


The Thin Line

by myblueworld



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Because if someone can pretend to be the best most romantic boyfriend, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, it would be Joe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-02 04:32:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11501832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myblueworld/pseuds/myblueworld
Summary: Here's the situation: David needed a boyfriend to bring to his sister's wedding back in his hometown.Here's the possible solution: Joe could pretend to be the most romantic boyfriend that would surely be a charming person to be introduced to David's family.Here's the problem: Joe might actually have a crush on David. A real crush.





	1. The Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David had a problem. James offered a solution. And Joe was a part, a big part, of the solution.

* * *

 

David could never, ever break his grandmother’s heart.

That, was the reason why he agreed on James’ idea.

Even though it was a bad bad idea.

David was still staring at the message on his phone when James showed up at his table at the coffee shop.

“Hey, David! What’s up?”

David looked up to flash a glance at James. He stretched his lips into a quick smile. “Hey.”

He looked back to his phone, still didn’t know how to respond to the message that he has been rereading for the seventh times.

James sat in front of him. “Okay. Something is definitely up. What is it?”

David let out a sigh as he put his phone on the table. “My sister’s wedding?”

James nodded. “It’s next month, isn’t it?”

“Three weeks and three days from now.”

“Have you got your plane ticket?”

David huffed as he shook his head. “Nope. Not yet.”

James looked at him with some creases between his brows. “Why? Pep doesn’t give you the days off?”

“No, it’s not about that.” David shook his head. “It’s…” he paused and let out a sigh. ‘It’s a bit…more complicated than that…”

James raised his eyebrows questioningly.

David bit his lower lip.  He took a deep breath and let it out in a long huff.

“My sister just texted me, asking me whether my boyfriend is allergic to anything, as she needs to let the caterer now about any allergy.”

For three full seconds, James only stared at him blankly.

David cringed at him. “See the problem now?”

“Your boyfriend is allergic to everything?”

David looked at James with wide eyes. “James!”

“What?”

“That’s not the problem!”

“What is the problem then?”

“I _don’t_ have a boyfriend! That’s the problem!”

“Oh?” James had an innocent, almost clueless look on his face. But David could see the corner of his lip twitched a little. “I thought you said that you have no problem with being single.”

“No! I mean, no, I don’t have a problem with that! But-“

“So?” James shrugged and David groaned in front of him.

A waiter that came with James’ order stopped their conversation for a while. Once the waiter has left them, James lifted up his cup and sipped his coffee.

“I mean,” James said as he placed his cup back. “That’s what you told me every time I try to-“

“Yes, James.  I am perfectly happy without a boyfriend or anything, and no, I still don’t need your help to have what you call as… a rebound date,” David said, gesturing a quotation mark with his fingers at the last two words.

“Whatever you say, David,” James said, slightly smiling behind his cup as he sipped his coffee.

David leaned back against his seat, and ran his hand over his head.

“Now, what makes you not having a boyfriend suddenly become a problem?” James asked, looking at David with a glint of curiosity in his eyes.

“So. This cousin of mine… Clara? Since she found out that I broke up with Kun,” David paused for a beat too long, cringed at the name. “Well… she becomes somewhat obsessed to find a date for me.”

David stopped and let out a sigh. “She’s like…the female version of you trying to set me up for a date, but far more…” he waved his hand in a vague circular motion. “…persistent?”

James said nothing, but he kept his eyes at David’s as he nodded.

“So. I might, or might not, have told her a few weeks ago that she doesn’t have to make a fuss about me anymore because I am already dating someone.”

James’ eyebrows raised as his lips curled up into a small amused smile.

“Hey! No judging, okay!” David tried to defend himself. “I just… I just said that so she would stop pestering me about the issue!”

“Oh, no no… David, I am not judging you at all,” James said as he shook his head lightly. “Totally understandable. It’s a thing that people will do if they were in your situation.”

“Well, anyway,” David continued. “Apparently, Clara was so happy that I finally dating someone, she told my sister about it. Then Natalia, of course, felt the need to share the happiness with my mother. And of course, Natalia had to tell my mother about it right when my grandmother was also in the room.” David explained how the news traveled so fast in the family. “So the next day, suddenly I had my grandmother calling me, asking me when would I bring my boyfriend home so she could meet him.”

James chuckled. “You’re lucky to have a family that seems to care a lot about you.”

David took a sip of his coffee and sighed. “Yeah. They care a lot. They care too much, sometimes.”

“So I assume that you couldn’t just tell your family that it didn’t work out? You and your imaginary boyfriend?”

“Doing that will break my grandmother’s heart. And I can’t.” David pulled his hair a little in frustration.

James tapped his chin while looking at David as if he was contemplating on something. “So you have a problem now.”

“I guess so,” David said, rubbing his forehead with his hand.

“And I have a solution for that problem.” James leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest with an almost smug smile on his lips.

“Huh?”

Well, being the meticulous reasonable James Milner, it wasn’t supposed to be a surprising thing that James had a solution. James always had a solution for everything.

“Uh huh,” James hummed as he nodded. He leaned forward, folding his arms on the table.

David saw a strange glint in James’ eyes. But he was desperate with his own situation, he tried not to care.

“And? What is this solution that you have?”

“You know Joe, right?”

An image of a tall blond guy flashed in David’s mind.

“Uhm. Yeah?”

“You should make him your boyfriend.”

David’s eyes widened. “I should what?”

James leaned back in his seat. “You and him,” he said, “You two will make a perfect couple.”

David said nothing. He got a vague idea of what James was suggesting. But the idea was so ridiculous, so….so unimaginable.

James lifted his cup and took another sip calmly. David kept looking at him.

“Bring Joe to your sister’s wedding, introduce him as your boyfriend to your family. Your grandmother’s happy. Everybody’s happy. Problem’s solved.”

“But he’s not my boyfriend,” David said dully.

“Well, not a real one,” James said. “But you two can pretend to be boyfriends. For the sake of your dignity in front of your family.”

“But… but…” David’s eyes were wide in shock and disbelief. “That is just ridiculous, James! I barely even know him!”

James shrugged his shoulders. “You’ve met him before.”

“For like…what? Three times? Four times?”

Yes, as James said, he met Joe before for a few times. A few months ago, James introduced him as one of his friends from college, that recently just got transferred from his office in England to its branch here in Valencia. Joe sometimes joined them for coffee or drinks after work. But that’s about it. David barely knew Joe other than a few general facts about him.

“David,” James leaned forward again, this time wearing his serious expression that he usually had in a project meeting. “Joe is a perfect candidate for this role. He’s a nice guy. He’s charming. Your family will like him. Your grandmother will gladly approve your choice.”

David cringed. “James…”

But to be honest, James had some points there.

No, Joe being charming was not one of the accurate points. Definitely no.

“And think about it this way. Joe has just been here in Spain for less than a year. He has no families or relatives here and the number of friends he has here in Spain is not that much yet anyway. So we can practically eliminate the possibility of your family finding out about this whole façade through an, intentional or unintentional, you know, mutual friends or something like that.”

Being as complicated as it sounded, David could see James’ logic there.

David slowly ran his hands over his face. In front of him, James stopped talking, like he was letting David digest his words. David covered his face with both hands, but peeked at James between his fingers.

He nodded. “Continue.”

James had a small victorious smirk on his lips, like he knew that David was starting to get interested to his idea.

And no, David was not interested. He was just…considering it. As an option. An alternative when he could not think of any other solution.

Not that he had any other solution, though.

“So you have four weeks to prepare the two of you in your little act. Bring him to Gran Canaria. Act like you two are couple who are oh-so-in-love-with-each-other. Simple, right?”

David groaned as he ran his hands over his face again.

He shook his head again.

“I don’t know, James…” he said, absently drew small circles on the table. “And most importantly, I don’t even know whether Joe will want to do it.”

James chuckled.

“Oh, believe me, David,” he said, with a strange smile on his lips. “I know that he will do it. I know that he would not even hesitate to be your boyfriend.”

*******

 

James must have read his diary.

Wait. No. That’s impossible.

Joe did _not_ even have a diary.

But then, how did James know that Joe would not hesitate to be David’s boyfriend? He never told anybody about that. About his helpless, pathetic crush on David.

Oh God, was it _that_ obvious?

Joe was so caught up in his own panic musing, he froze where he stood, right behind the chair that David was sitting on.

“Joe! There you are!” James’ greeting jolted Joe back to reality. He waved at Joe with a small smirk on his lips.

David quickly turned his head to look at Joe.

“Joe!” he said, voice a pitch higher than usual. “I… I didn’t know that you’re coming,” he said, his face was blushing as he stared at Joe, half-cringing.

“Uhm. James texted me earlier?” Joe said with a hesitation.

David’s lips were now stretching into a nervous smile., like he wasn’t really sure on whether he was happy or no with Joe being there.

“Have a seat, Joe.” James nodded at him.                                                    

Joe took two steps to the chair next to James. “So,” Joe said as he sat down. “What were you guys talking about?”

James angled his head to look at Joe. There is a glint in his eyes. “We were talking about a particular situation here, where David needs you to be his boyfriend.”

Joe’s heart did a backflip. He stole a glance at David, whose cheeks were crimson now.

“I.. Well… It’s.. It’s not-“  David’s hand moved frantically as he stuttered.

“Hey, it’s alright. I’m honored,” Joe said, waving his hand dismissively. “Tell me more about this situation.”

Of course, he would be much happier had James said that David _wanted_ to be his boyfriend (or even better, had David been the one who said so).

But as James said, David _needed_ him to be his boyfriend. Because of a situation.

Not the thing that Joe wanted. But if Joe being realistic, there was no way that David would realize Joe’s admiration on him. Let alone feeling the same thing towards Joe. So probably, this was the best that Joe can get.

James explained about the wedding and why David needed someone whom he could bring and introduce to his family as his ‘boyfriend’.

David himself seemed to grow a massive interest to the saucer of his coffee cup. Propping his chin on one hand, he drew some abstract patterns on the table with his free hand.

“So, as what I have told David, you seemed to be the perfect candidate to help David in this issue,’ James said.

David looked up at Joe now. “But seriously Joe, if you don’t want to-“

“Who said I don’t want to?” Joe cut David, giving him a smile that he hoped a reassuring one.

David’s lips parted, looking too stunned to say anything.

Joe shrugged his shoulders. “Besides, I’ve always wanted to visit Gran Canaria for holiday. I heard the beaches there are nice.”

“You…” David looked at Joe warily, like he wasn’t sure that Joe really meant what he just said. “…really want to do it?”

Next to Joe, James chuckled. “I’ve told you, David. He surely wants to help you. Right Joe?” James said, patting Joe’s shoulder.

David’s eyes darted from Joe to James, then back to Joe again.

“You sure?” he asked once again.

“Hey, I won’t say that I’d do it if I don’t want to,” Joe said, leaning back to his chair. He reached out for his cup that the waiter has just put in front of him.

Joe sipped his coffee, watching David slowly rubbed his face with both hands. To be honest, Joe would do anything that could impress David. So if David needed Joe to be his boyfriend, then heck, Joe would be the most romantic boyfriend ever.

“Okay,” David said. He sighed. “This might be one of the craziest things I’ve ever done, but let’s do this.”

Joe’s heart did another backflip. He grinned, and crossed his arms on the table. He leaned forward.

“So. When are we leaving to your hometown?”


	2. The Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David and Joe arrived at David's hometown. David's cousin was excited to see Joe. David's brother was amused to see them. And David could not stop blushing.

They had three weeks to prepare a convincing back story before the wedding.

And of course, naturally, they barely prepared anything.

David spent some extra hours with works to make sure that he wouldn’t have a backlog of work once he got back from the wedding. Joe himself was lucky enough that his office was willing to give him some days off in a relatively short notice.  But it also meant that he had to work some extra hours too. The kind of preparation that they had was only some phone calls and text messages, arranging their flight. Joe insisted on paying for his own flight, saying that it’s like he was taking a vacation anyway. Besides, they would stay in David’s parents’ house there, which meant he got free accommodation.

Before he knew it, David was now sitting in the airport on Wednesday afternoon, waiting for their flight to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

“Here’s your coffee,” Joe handed out a carton cup to David. “Black, two sugar.”

David raised his eyebrows as he took the cup from Joe.

“How do you know?”

Joe shrugged his shoulders as he sat next to David.

“We had coffee a couple of times together, right?” Joe said. “With James too,” he quickly added.

Yeah. Right. For like, two or three times?

David nodded and sipped his coffee.

Perfect. Just like the way he liked it.

“Thank you,” David said, smiling as he turned his head to Joe. They sat in silence for a while. From the corner of his eyes, David watched Joe drummed his fingers on his thighs.

“Nervous?”

“Huh?” Joe turned his gaze from the window to David. He let out a small awkward laugh. “No. No.” He shook his head, then ran a hand over his head. The light from the window fell on his hair, making the golden color of his curls glowed lightly.

“I’m just going to fly to a town I’ve never been before, meeting new people, and acting as the most romantic boyfriend one could ever have, and your relatives will post pictures of us with relationship goal as the hashtag,” Joe said, gesturing with his fingers as if he was counting the things that he just listed. “So no. I am not nervous at all. I am _pumped_. Excited.”

David’s brows shot up, and he burst out into a laugh. Joe grinned at him, like he was pleased with himself to make David laugh like that.

David’s lips still curling up a smile as he looked at Joe. “Yeah. You’re right, Joe. You have no reason to be nervous at all.”

“Hey, you know what James said. I am the best candidate for this role.”

“I’m sure you are. Couldn’t think of a better person to be my boyfriend.”

Joe blinked. A faints shade of red tinged his cheeks.

“Uh. Yeah. I am the best boyfriend one could ever have, huh?” he said, and let out a weird laugh. Like he wasn’t sure whether he supposed to laugh or not. Joe looked back at the window.

“Do you think your family will like me?” he asked, but kept his eyes on the window.

“Of course they will,” David said. He placed his hand on Joe’s thigh, trying to assure him. He could see Joe got tense a bit. He must be nervous about this, David quietly thought to himself.

David squeezed Joe’s thigh a little, hoping that the gesture let Joe know that he didn’t have to be so nervous.

“You’re a nice person, Joe. You will charm your way right into the family.”

Joe slowly turned his head to return David’s eyes. There was something else behind those green eyes. Something that David could not really put his finger on yet.

“Do you really think so?”

“Yeah,” David nodded, keeping his eyes at Joe. He never realized it before, but Joe’s eyes were pretty with a beautiful, bright shade of green. David smiled, squeezing Joe’s thigh again. “I know so.”

Joe smiled back at David, and his eyes twinkled.

Something funny fluttered inside David’s stomach, along with a rush of heat on his cheek. David took his hand off Joe and quickly held his cup of coffee with both hands. He sipped his coffee, and thought that maybe he shouldn’t finish it. His heartbeat was strangely faster than usual. Must be because of the caffeine.

Next to him, Joe cleared his throat.

“Tell me about yourself.”

David turned his head again at Joe. “Huh?”

“Hey, good boyfriends know each other well, right?”

David raised his eyebrows. “You know where I work. You know where I come from.”

“Yeah, but I want to know more about you. Simple things. Little things that make you…you…’

David took another sip of his coffee.

“I tell you what,” David said, lightly tapping the side of his cup. “Ask me questions, and I’ll answer it.’

“Fair enough.”

“But I will also ask you questions,” David said, looking at Joe. Joe raised his eyebrows.

David curled up a smile. “As you said, good boyfriends know each other.”

Joe chuckles. “Yeah… yeah.. Right.”

“You go first,” David said.

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Blue. What’s yours?”

“Green. Favorite movie?”

“Gladiator. You?”

“Finding Nemo.”

David let out a surprised chuckle.

“What? It’s a good movie!”

“Really?” David raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never watched it.”

Joe stared at David with a horrified look, like he was personally offended by what David said. He shook his head.

“I can’t believe this. I’m sorry David. But I don’t think the relationship between us,” he said, pointing back and forth at David and himself. “It’s not going to work.”

David laughed again. It’s funny how easy it was to smile and laugh with Joe, considering that they didn’t really know that well each other.

“What? Just because I’ve never watch a movie about a fish being lost?”

“David! It’s… It’s more than that!”

“Well,” David said, pushing away his hair from covering his forehead. “Then maybe you should take me out to see the movie.”

White teeth flashing between his lips, Joe grinned at David. “Maybe one day I will.”

*******

 

 

It was a little past 8 local time when Joe dragged his small suitcase as he walked alongside David out of the Arrival Terminal. Joe could vaguely smell the sea in the summer’s heat.

“You said your brother will pick us up?”

David hummed as his eyes scanned around the terminal.

“And then-“

Joe’s sentence was cut short as a young girl ran towards them, her long brown hair waved behind her.

“David!”

David’s face suddenly lit up with a bright smile. The next second, the girl had her arms around David. David hugged her back, the smile lingers on his lips as he rubbed her back.

“You’re here!” she said as she pulled back.

“Of course I am,“ David grinned. “I thought Nando was supposed to pick me up?”

“Oh yeah, he’s there.” She glanced to her back, and waved. Joe looked at the direction where she waved at, and saw a guy waved back as he walked towards them.

“So,” she let go off her hands from David’s arms, and looked at Joe. Her smile was a friendly one, but Joe could see the appraising look in her eyes as she had a quick look over on Joe.

“Is this the boyfriend?”

David made a strange sound like he was choking on nothing. But Joe was quick enough to react. He put on a smile as he stretched his hand to the girl.

“Hi, I’m Joe.”

Instead of taking Joe’s hand, the young girl pulled him into a hug. Which was quite awkward for Joe, as the height difference between him and this girl was even bigger than between him and David. Before Joe could decide whether he should hug her back or no, the girl already pulled herself away from Joe.

“Oh! I am so excited to see you! Well, the whole family is excited to see you,” she said, smiling brightly at Joe.

David cleared his throat.

“Uhm… Joe. This is Clara. My cousin.”

Clara took another look over at Joe. “Oh wow. David did say that you are handsome. But my my… you are definitely a fine looking guy, yes?”

Joe instantly felt a rush of heat on his cheeks. But what did she just say? David said that he was handsome?  
“Oh, did he say so?” he asked, flashing a glance at David from the corner of his eyes. David’s face was scarlet red but he looked away from Joe.

“He did,” Clara said, a teasing smile played on her lips.

 Joe grinned. He nudged David’s shoulder. “You really think I am handsome?”

Luckily for David, the guy that was waving at them was now standing right in front of him, pulling him into a hug.

“David!”

“Nando!” David hugged him back. He pulled away, and smiled as he ruffled the guy’s hair. “How are you, hermano?”

“I’m good, David. So glad that you’re here. Now the family is complete!” he said, and turned to Joe. “Hi, you must be David’s boyfriend.” He stretched out his hand to Joe. “I am Nando. David’s brother.”

“Hello,” Joe said, shaking Nando’s hand as he returned his smile. He can see the resemblance between David and his brother.

“The mysterious guy is finally here! You have no idea how the girls in the house were excited to see you,” Nando said, sliding his hand into his pocket. He grinned as Joe looked at him, half-startled with what he just said.

“I kept on asking David to send at least a picture! But he never sent one. He said he wanted to keep his gorgeous handsome boyfriend for himself.” Clara spoke animatedly.

Joe’s brows shot up to his forehead, then he burst out into a laughter. He glanced at David. The only thing that kept David from turning into a deeper shade of red was probably because he was already at the maximum level of blushing.

“Clara!” David hissed, glaring at her with wide eyes. Clara ignored him. She clapped her hand once.

“Come to think of it, let me take a picture of the two of you so I can send it to Natalia.”

“Clara!” David stared at her with an incredulous look. “We’re meeting Natalia anyway in an hour! Why should you even send a picture to her?”

Clara waved her hand dismissively as she took out her phone. “Why shouldn’t I? Come on, you two. Be the love birds like you are.”

Joe chuckled. “Very well, then,” he said. He put his arm around David’s shoulder as he pulled David closer. David mumbled something about being surrounded by idiots, but he pressed the side of his head to Joe’s shoulder. Something funny swirled in Joe’s stomach. Joe leaned to the side, pressing himself even closer to David’s figure. David’s hair gently tickles his cheek, and it took everything from Joe not to bury his face into it. But Joe let his hand went down from David’s shoulder to his waist.

“Come on, smile!” Clara said behind her phone. Next to her, Nando had his eyes on the two of them, looking amused.

Joe stretched his lips into a smile, and Clara took the picture.

“There you go.” Clara checked the picture that she just took as Joe hesitantly pulled himself away from David. Clara made a cooing sound at her phone.

“You two are so cute together!” she said, waving her phone at Joe. Joe took two wide steps forward, curiously checking the picture.

There it was. The two of them frozen in the screen. David leaned against Joe’s shoulder, as Joe’s arm resting comfortably around his waist. Joe stared at the picture, his heart fluttering to see the small shy smile on David’s lips.

“Uhm, can you send it to me?”  Joe said, as he straightened his back.

“Sure,” Clara nodded. “Just give me your number.”

Joe stole a glance at David, who was looking pointedly at his shoes.

But Joe didn’t fail to notice the way David was biting his lower lip, like he was trying to hold back a smile.

Joe spelled his number to Clara, trying not to sound too excited.

“Those all your stuff?” Nando gestured at the small luggage that Joe had with him.

“Uh huh,” Joe nodded.

“Okay, this way to the car then,” Nando said, and lead the way for them.

As David and Joe walked behind him and Clara, Joe nudged David’s shoulder.

“Hey,” Joe said. “It was a nice picture.”

David huffed, keeping his eyes straight. But Joe swore that David was blushing again. And his lips twitched.

“Of course it is,” David said. “It has me in it. A picture will always be a nice one if I am in it.”

 

*******

Joe slid into the back seat.

“Ready?” Nando looked at him from the rear-view mirror as he adjusted the mirror.

Joe nodded as he hummed.

Clara looked over her shoulder at them and chuckled.

“Oh, come on boys. You don’t have to be shy around us,” she said. She fiddled with her phone again, but Joe could see Nando’s eyes glancing at them once again from the rear-view mirror. Nando’s eyes darted back to the front window as he started the car, but Joe caught the small smirk on Nando’s lips. His heart beating slightly faster, Joe shifted closer to where David was sitting. David had his eyes fixed on the window.

Biting his lower lip, Joe moving his hand to where David’s hand was resting on the backseat. Pretending that he was enjoying the view from the window next to him, Joe barely could hold a gasp when his hand finally touched David’s. He could feel David got tense on his touch. He glanced at David, who was now looking at him with a slightly confused look in his eyes. Joe returned his eyes, and his eyes darted to the front seats, where Clara was talking about something animatedly with Nando. His eyes moved back to David as he carefully covered David’s hand with his own. David seemed to get what Joe meant, as now he flipped his hand, and held Joe’s hand.

Joe’s eyes fell to where their hands were tangled, his pale hand over David’s olive skin. He looked at David. He already had his eyes back to the window. But even from the side, he could see the faint smile on David’s lips, his cheeks slightly blushing. Warm air filling in Joe’s chest as he tried to hold back his smile, and looked at the view that the city has to offer from the window.

“So, how long have you been-“ Clara asked as she turned her neck to where they were sitting. But her eyes caught the way David’s hand was now covered by Joe’s. She made a cooing sound that made Joe cringed.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen David is holding hand with his boyfriend!”

Joe’s face was instantly on fire and he was about to pulled his hand away. But David tighten his hand on Joe as he glared at his cousin. Clara herself didn’t seem to notice anything weird, as she continued talking.

“But to be honest, you didn’t look like someone that will fit David’s type.”

Joe’s jaw dropped as David groaned.

“Really?” Joe said, and chuckled.

“Clara, I swear that-“

“No! Hey, tell me Clara! What is David’s type anyway?” Joe asked curiously. He did want to know.

“Oh, come on…” David threw his head to the back.

“Well, most, if not all, the guys that David used to have a crush on-” Clara started.

“Clara, can you just-“

Joe quickly placed his free hand over David’s mouth and gestured with his chin to Clara who was laughing.

“What? What about them?” he asked.

Clara grinned at David who was glaring at her as he tried to move his head away from Joe’s hand. “Usually David’s crushes have dark hair. I never thought David would ever have a thing for blondes.”

“Really?” Joe took his hand off from David’s mouth.

“Uh huh,” Clara nodded. “Remember Alexis, David? Oh, he was crazy about David but David didn’t even-“

“It was because he was a jerk! Not because he was blonde!” David defended himself.

Clara waved her hand dismissively. “Raul, Morientes, Juan,” she listed, counting the name with his fingers. “And Sergio… Hey! Have I told you that Sergio is also coming to the party?”

David’s brows arch up as he tilted his head a little. “Sergio? Kun? Really? He’s coming?”

David sounds a bit wary, and the fact that Clara listed that name as one of the guys that David had a crush on, made something like steel weighed inside Joe’s chest.

Clara nodded, but it looked like her mind was already moving to another topic, as she now had her eyes on Joe.

“Now, what did I ask you about? Oh yeah. How long have you been here in Spain? David only said that you’re from England. And your Spanish is not really bad.”

“Almost a year now,” Joe answered her. “And for my Spanish, I can survive simple daily conversation. But sometimes it’s difficult for me when people start talking too fast.”

“Oh! I can be your translator!” Clara said excitedly.

“No. You’re only going to mess with him,” David said, shooting daggers at her.

“Oh, is that what you think of me, David?” Clara looked at her cousin, dramatically put her hand on her heart. “I’m hurt. I would never do such thing,” she said, but the glint in her eyes and the small smirk on her lips were saying something else.

David rolled his eyes at her. “Besides, he has me as a translator.”

He tugged Joe’s hand that was still in his and looked at him, like asking for a confirmation.

The almost childish look in David’s brown eyes made Joe think whether it would be too much if he leaned down and kissed David’s reddening cheeks.

He settled on ruffling David’s hair as he chuckled. “Yeah, I have you,” he said, smiling fondly at David.

David curled up a smile and Joe wondered whether David ever realized how beautiful his smile was.

Their hands were still tangled together when Nando pulled in the driveway of the Jimenez’s house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have nothing against Finding Nemo.


	3. The Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe met David's family, who were so excited to see David's boyfriend.  
> David thought his family was too excited about seeing Joe.

* * *

“You go see _abuela_ , David. She’s been so excited to see you,” Nando said as he turned his head to the backseat. “You too, Joe,” he added, looking at Joe. “She’s dying to see David’s boyfriend. I’ll take care of your suitcase.”

“Thanks, Nando!” David said. He had an excited smile as he pulled away his hand from Joe’s to unbuckle his seat belt. He unlocked the door and quickly opened it.

Joe watched David hopped out the door, half-amused to see how excited David was. He sighed as he started unbuckling his seat belt, already missing the warmth of David’s hand against his skin.  He walked out the car, slightly surprised to see that David was still standing by the car, waiting for him.

“Come on,” David beckoned to Joe. That bright smile was on his face and Joe could see how David looked so relaxed, now that he was finally home.

Joe closed the small distance between them. Once he was next to David, David reached out for his hand and held it.

For a second, Joe’s heart skipped a beat or two to have David holding his hand.

“David!”

An elderly woman was standing in front of the opened door, beaming a wide smile at David.

Oh. Yeah.

A small piece of Joe’s heart broke when he found out the reason why David took his hand.

He pushed away that broken heart piece into the trash can in his mind and let David lead him to the porch where his grandmother was waiting.

*******

David’s grandmother; a woman in her mid-60s with a pair of glasses; opened her arms wide at David. David let go of Joe’s hand and let her take him into a hug.

“David!” she said in joy. She put an arm around David’s neck, and David had to lean down a bit so she could kiss his cheeks.

“How are you, _abuela_?” David said, and kissed her cheek.

“Oh, I’m just fine here. Your niece has kept me busy and now this wedding stuff,” she waved her hand around. “So many things to do, so many people to feed.”

She put her hands on David’s shoulders. “Look at you, David! So thin! Are you eating well there? Please don’t tell me you live on that food you just heat in the microwave.”

“Well, you can feed me while I’m here,” David said, smiling fondly at her.

“Oh, and is it the boy that you’ve been telling me about?” Her eyes were now looking at Joe.

“Oh yeah. Abuela, this is Joe,” David moved aside, so Joe could step forward.

“Oh, look at you! Such a young handsome guy for my grandson!” she said with her wide smile as he pulled Joe into her hug. Joe awkwardly returned the hug, but found the warm welcome to be endearing.

“You are, Joe? I am David’s grandmother. Just call me Antonia,” she said when she pulled away, looking at Joe with the warm smile.

“Hello Antonia, thank you for having me here.” Joe smiled back at her and straightened his back. “I hope I don’t give you too much trouble by being here.”

Antonia shook her head and waved dismissively. “Ah, nonsense! We are so happy that you here! David’s boyfriend is family too!”

There was a funny pull in Joe’s chest to hear her called him as David’s boyfriend. Joe thought about how many people that David had bring home and introduced as his boyfriend.

But before he pushed the thought aside, Antonia patted the side of his shoulder.

“This is the first time David brought a boyfriend here. So you must be special!”

Joe’s heart stopped beating for a second.

Oh.

_Oh._

He couldn’t stop himself from grinning as he flashed a glance at David. David was looking away, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh, well,” Joe said, looking back at Antonia. “I’m trying my best.”

“You take care of David there in Valencia, yes? Now David is here in his home, so he’ll take care of you, yes?” Antonia rubbed Joe’s shoulder before pulling David’s hand.

“And David. You be a good host for him, yes? Show him around? And I’ll cook for you and your boyfriend!” Antonia rubbed David’s back.

“Yes, abuela,” David said but kept his eyes down, avoiding Joe’s eyes who were looking at him with amusement.

“Now you two, go and rest! I’ll see you for dinner, yes?” Antonia pushed their shoulders lightly.

“Yes, _abuela_ ,” David nodded.

“Thank you, Antonia,” Joe said.

“Oh, I am so happy that you two are here,” Antonia said, pulling Joe into another hug and patted Joe’s back. “You two have fun together here, okay?”

“Yes, Antonia. Thank you,” Joe said and gave her another smile. He walked through the door, where David was waiting.

“Come on,” David said as he started walking. Joe looked over his shoulder and saw Antonia watching them, still smiling. Joe turned his neck back and put his arm around David’s shoulder.

“Your grandmother is watching,” he whispered at David.

David nodded, and wrapped his arm around Joe’s waist. “The bed rooms are on the second floor,” he said, gesturing with his chin.

“Okay,” Joe said, and kissed the top of David’s head.

Antonia was no longer watching them, but David didn’t have to know that.

 

*******

Nando was standing by the stair when they reached the second floor.

“I’ve put your stuff in David’s room, Joe,” Nando said. “I supposed you two will share a room together, right?” Nando added, a small teasing smile on his lips.

David froze.

 _That_ , was an important detail, and he stupidly forgot about it.

Well, no. Not really. He always assumed that Joe would take the guest room.

He forgot that his family might have another idea.

He could feel Joe got tense next to him, his arm still resting on David’s shoulder.

“Uhm, well, act-“

“Yeah, of course we will.”

David stopped mid-sentence as his arm fell from Joe’s waist. He snapped his head up to look at Joe, who had a nervous smile on his face.

“Good!” Nando said. “Because Bernardo is also coming, so he can take the guest room.”

“Who’s Bernardo?”

“He’s a cousin. You’ll see him on Friday.” Nando said, sliding his hands into his pockets. “So, I’ll see you guys at dinner, okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Joe said.

Nando walked pass them to the stairs. Once the sound of his footsteps disappeared, David stepped away from Joe, letting himself go from the protective arm.

“It’s the third door on the right,” David said, and started walking. He could hear Joe following him.

The door was already opened, and as Nando said, their suitcases were there in the room, by the bed.

David stepped into his room and walked to his favorite spot, the big window that showed him the view of the sea.

“Nice room,” Joe said. Joe made his way to where David was standing. Following David, he gazed at the glistening sea. “You have a great view from here.”

David nodded, his eyes fixed on the window. “It’s always been my favorite view since I was a kid.”

For a while, both of them standing side by side without saying anything. David was aware of how close Joe was, he could smell the scent of warm spices from Joe’s cologne, a scent that he had recognized from sitting side by side on the plane during their flight.

Joe’s side was so close to him, and David could still remember how comfortable it was to rest his head on that shoulder.

“Your grandmother seems nice,” Joe said, looking down at David with a soft smile.

David stared back at him. Golden sun rays falling on Joe’s hair, making it softly glow like a halo around his head. Joe’s green eyes were bright, like some of the sun rays were trapped there.

“She is,” David said, quickly looking back to the window. “She’s an angel,” David added, keeping his eyes at the horizon.

“Where are your parents?”

David touched the glass surface of the window. He angled his neck a little, so he could see the reflection of them on the glass.

“My father usually got home close to dinner time. So probably he’ll be here soon. My mother and Natalia probably are in Javi’s house, wedding planning things. But they’ll be home for dinner.”

“So I guess meet the family is on dinner?’

David nodded and turned around. He walked to his bed and sit there.

“How do you like it so far?” he asked, turning his head at Joe.

Joe made a 90-degree turn, and rest his side against the window. “Clara is fun,” he said, slightly grinning.

David groaned. “She talks too much!” He grunted and ran both hands over his head. He shook his head in desperation.

Joe chuckled at his reaction. “I don’t mind as long as it’s you that she’s talking about.”

David instantly turned his head at Joe, who was looking at David, his smile curling up into a soft smile.

Really, Joe should not stand there by the window, where amber lights of sunset fell on him, creating a soft glow around him, a golden halo around his head and a pair of sparkling emerald eyes lighting up his face.

David looked away hastily from Joe to the wall in front of him. He tried to focus on the clock hanging on the wall.

“Dinner is usually at 9.30, so we have-“

“Tío David!’

David was stopped mid-sentence by the sudden entrance of a little girl. David instantly recognized the toothy grin of her niece, but before he could do anything, the 4-year old girl already jumped to him, wrapping her hands around him and making David fall back on the mattress.

“Tío Daviiiid,” the girl screeched with joy against his chest. “I miss you so much, Tío.”

David laughed as he sat up back, holding her steadily on her waist so now she was sitting on her lap.

“I miss you too, Chloe.”

“I am going to be the flower girl for Mama’s wedding!” she told David, beaming a smile. “Oh Tío! My dress is so pretty! And I will wear a flower crown on my head!”

“Oh, I bet you’re going to be the most beautiful flower girl, Chloe,” David said, smiling as he kissed the tip of her nose. She giggled.

“I like being flower girl,” she said. “I like my dress and I like flower crowns and Mama said there will be lots of food and candies, and there will be cake too. Papa said it’s going to be a big cake, because it’s a wedding cake!” Chloe moved her hands around as she talked with fascinating speed.

“You’re excited, huh, Princess?” David said, smiling at the girl’s excitement. He loves his niece. And children in general. David always found most of the time, dealing with children was easier than with adults. Their excitement and emotions were pure.

Chloe nodded eagerly. “I like weddings,” she said. “When is your wedding, Tío?”

A sudden rush of heat warm David’s cheeks, and Joe let out an amused chuckled from where he was standing.

Chloe turned her head, and looked at Joe curiously. She turned her head back at David.

“Tío, who is that?”

“Oh, yeah.” David lifted her up from his lap, and put her next to him on the mattress. He looked up at Joe, and gestured with his head, signaling Joe to sit down.

Joe walked to the bed, and sat next to Chloe.

“Hello, little flower girl,” he greeted, smiling at her.

“Chloe, this is my friend, Joe.” David said. “Joe, this is Chloe, my niece.”

“Chloe. That's a pretty name.”

Chloe studied Joe for a while, one of her hand gripping David’s shirt. “You are here for Mama’s wedding too?”

“Uh huh,” Joe nodded. “And I can’t wait to see you and your flower crown.”

Chloe’s lips instantly curled up into a wide smile. “The flowers will be white and blue. And my dress is white with blue ribbons on it.”

“David is right,” Joe nodded. “I’m sure that you’ll be the prettiest flower girl.”

Chloe giggled, covering her mouth with her tiny hands. “Are you Tío David’s special friend? Mama and Tía Clara told me that Tío David will bring a special friend.”

David suddenly choked on nothing. He made a mental note to strangle Clara once he had a chance to. Next to Chloe, Joe’s brows shot up, but then he laughed lightly.

“Well, what do you think? Can you let me be his special friend?”

David stared at Joe, his mouth agape.

_What?_

Chloe didn’t seem to think that was a strange question. She studied the face in front of him like she was really thinking about the question.

Joe flashed a glance at David, grinned at him and winked.

What the…

“You’re not going to make Tío David cry?” Chloe asked with all the seriousness of a kid.

Joe shook his head. “No, I won’t. I promise you I won’t.”

Chloe nodded. “Good. And don’t forget that you have to make him happy. Because Tía Clara and Mama said that special friends are those who always make you happy,” she said.

Joe nodded and took her hand. “Okay. I promise. So do I get your permission now to be your uncle’s special friend?” he asked, holding Chloe’s hand. He looked at her solemnly, but his eyes were smiling.

Chloe giggled and nodded. “Yes,” she said, and then turned to David. Leaning a little toward David, she whispered.

“Tío, your special friend is nice. I like him.”

Something clenched David’s heart because he knew that Chloe was being honest. His niece, the purest little girl was being honest at him while what she was seeing about him and Joe was nothing but a facade

David’s eyes moved away from Chloe to Joe. Joe was staring at David, his lips slightly tugged up into the faintest smile and his eyes were the perfect shade of green and David thought he saw something bittersweet behind those eyes.

He looked back at Chloe, and patted her head gently. “He is, Chloe. He is very nice. I’m happy you like him.”

He looked back at Joe and that faint smile was now wider for just a little bit.

“Chloe? Oh, there you are!” Natalia showed up in front of the door, and Chloe jumped off the bed to run to her mother.

Natalia smiled at David. “David. You’re here.”

David beamed a wide smile and the next second he already wrapped his sister in a hug and thought about how she was just a little girl that always followed David wherever he went.

“Congratulations, little sister,” he whispered at her and he couldn’t see it but he knew that Natalia was smiling as she hugged him back.

Natalia pulled herself away. Chloe tugged the hem of her skirt.

“Mama, Tío David brought his special friend,” she told her.

David felt another rush of heat and he turned around, about to start another awkward introduction but Natalia already leaned forward a little to look at Joe who was still sitting on the bed.

She waved at him and gave him a friendly smile. “You must be Joe, right?”

Joe stood up quickly and David stepped aside to make room for Joe as he greeted Natalia with a hug.

“Yes, I am.” He pulled away but still had his hand on her shoulders. “Congratulations on the wedding,” Joe said and grinned at her as he takes his hands away from her and slid them into his pocket.

“Thank you,” Natalia said. “And thanks for coming.”

She gave Joe a totally-not-subtle look over, and her friendly smile was now a small smirk with a dangerous glint in her eyes. “Well, the picture that Clara sent me was a cute picture of the two of you. But I have to say that it doesn’t really serve you justice.”

David was absolutely sure now that all of the women in his family had some sort of secret mission to make him die from embarrassment.

But Joe seemed to handle the situation quite well.

He gave Natalia a charming smile. “Coming from a very beautiful bride-to-be who is a mother of an adorable little princess, I am flattered to have that compliment.”

Natalia let out a laugh. The laugh lingered as a smile as she lifted Chloe and hold her on her hips.

“Dinner is ready, guys. I’ll see you downstairs, okay?”

Chloe waved at them as her mother carried her down the stairs.

“Well, I guess your family like me,” Joe said once the two of them disappeared from sight.

David turned on his heels and stared at Joe, who had a satisfied, smug grin on his face. David opened his mouth, trying to say something but ended up closing it again as he realized he had no idea on what to say. So he sighed and shook his head.

“Come on,” he said. “Dinner’s ready.”

He walked out the room and went down the stairs. He could hear Joe was following him and he wondered whether Joe still had that stupid smug grin on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't seen it already please have a look at how David's grandmother is so proud of her grandson here:  
> http://thebluesideofmyworld.tumblr.com/post/159176045044/david-silva-and-his-grandmother-antonia-jimenez


	4. The Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first night when there were David and Joe in the room and only one bed.

His parents were downstairs, already sitting around the dining table when David and Joe walked into the dining room. After another round of introduction where his mother gave another embarrassing comment on how David has never brought any of his boyfriend, David sat on the dining table, with Joe next to him, and Nando on his other side.

His mother and Natalia, sitting next to each other across of them, seemed to find Joe’s presence to be a delightful thing and kept on asking him questions.

He scanned the people around the dining table. His father, who had always been a quiet person anyway, didn’t talk much. Only answering questions or confirming things that David’s mother asked him to. Nando didn’t talk much either, but he looked like he was kind of amused with how the ladies in the family were bombarding Joe with so many questions.

The dinner was a light one, like usual. David was almost finished with his meal when Clara asked him.

“So, David, Joe, how long have you two been together?”

“Six months now-“ David started.

“It’s been nine months-“ Joe also said.   

David’s fork froze in the air, as he watched in horror how his mother and sister stared at the two of them in confusion. Next to Natalia, Nando cocked his head, looking intrigued and amused at the same time.

But before David could think of something to say, Joe chuckled.

“I’m sorry, it was my bad. It had been nine months since I tried wooing him. But it took three months before he finally agreed to date me, exclusively,” Joe said. Then he put his fork just to reach out for David’s hand and held it, as he looked at David like David was some sort of Christmas present. “And yes, it’s been the most wonderful, _magical_ six months that I have ever had.”

Having all eyes on him were bad enough already. The cooing sound from Clara and Natalia and whistling from Nando practically made David’s face on fire.

He pulled his hand away from Joe, pretending he needed his hand to cut the remaining bread that he had on his plate. His mother and sister already moved on from the topic, now talking something about seating arrangement. David stole a glance at Joe from the corner of his eyes, but Joe caught him. He winked at David, and proceeded to finish his salad.

*******

After dinner, Chloe asked David to read her a bedtime story. Which David did happily. Not just because he loved his niece so much, but also so he could put off dealing with the bedroom situation. But now that Chloe already sleeping peacefully, David had no other choice but to go to his bedroom. He was seriously thinking of watching TV in the living room so he could fall asleep there in the couch, but his grandmother has insisted him to go to bed and have some proper rest.

In front of the bedroom door, he stopped. Shifting his weight from his toes to the balls of his feet, he pondered whether he should knock the door or no.

David sighed, feeling stupid. Well, it’s _his_ bedroom anyway, right?

David knocked, then slowly opened the door.

Joe was sitting by the desk. He turned his head to the door and smiled at David as David walked in and closed the door.

“Hey,” he said. “Finish with the storytelling session?”

“Yeah.” David returned his smile. He flashed a quick glance at his queen-sized bed, sheets smoothed and perfectly made.

David walked to the cabinet and leaned his back against the door.

“You know, you can take the bed,” David said, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Joe didn’t say anything. He kept his eyes on David, heads tilting a little to the left, studying David’s expression.

David looked down, scratching the back of his ear.

“Don’t tell me that you’re sleeping somewhere else," Joe said.

David lifted his head up, meeting Joe’s eyes. He shook his head as he pushed away his hair from covering his eyes. He opened his mouth but Joe cut him before he said anything.

“And no, you’re not sleeping on the floor either.”

David’s shoulders got tensed.

Joe rolled his eyes, but he was looking rather amused than annoyed.

“Oh, come on, David. The bed is big enough for the two of us.”

David chewed his lower lip, and started fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. “You’re okay with that?”

Joe chuckled. “Seriously, what’s the worst thing that can happen?”

David had a number of scenarios where the two of them sleeping together in the same bed could lead to. None of the scenarios was something that he could tell Joe without embarrassing himself.

“I might kick you on the face?” David cringed at his own words.

Joe stared at him, looking totally amused. “That’s the worst that can happen?”

David sighed.

Whatever. Both of them were adults anyway. Both of them, especially David, had enough dignity and self-control to act like how adult when they had to sleep in the same bed.

Before any of them said anything else, Joe’s phone went off with that ringtone that David low-key hating. There were millions of songs that Joe could pick as a ringtone and he chose What is Love. Who on earth would have a lame 90’s disco song as a ringtone?

“I’ll go brush my teeth,” he said. Joe, already had his phone pressed to his ear only waved lightly at him as David walked to the bathroom.

The bathroom that David shared with Nando was connected to his room and Nando’s room. As he put some toothpaste on his toothbrush, David could hear the faint sound of Joe talking, but he could not pick up any real words except some laughter from Joe. Frowning a little, David wondered who was calling Joe. It was already quite late, so whoever calling him must be someone special enough.

Not that David cared that Joe had someone special calling him at night though.

He was just wondering.

David stared at the mirror as he brushed his teeth. He kept on telling himself that there was nothing to make a big fuss about.

He was just going to sleep in the same bed with Joe.

It was not a big deal at all.

David hesitantly recognized his irregular heart beating as nervousness. But he refused to believe that it was because he was going to sleep side by side with Joe.

He put back his toothbrush in the small ceramic pot, noticing a green toothbrush that was already there.

Of course. Green was Joe’s favorite color, right?

Not that David cared about it, though. It’s just… a very random, irrelevant thing that crossed his mind.

He walked back to the bedroom, finding Joe already sitting up on the bed with his back leaning against the headboard. Joe lifted his head from his phone and grinned at David.

“James said hi.”

David raised his eyebrows and his chest felt a bit lighter with a weird sense of relief.

Oh. It’s just James.

“What? He missed me already?”

Joe chuckled. “He said Pep already complained about not having you around to deal with things.”

David rolled his eyes and walked to the bed. Joe placed his phone on the nightstand.

“Ready for bed?” Joe asked.

David ran a nervous hand over his head. “Do you prefer all the lights off or are you okay with some dim light? I can turn on that small lamp on my desk.”

Joe shrugged lightly. “I guess a little light will be nice. I mean, for me it’s a new place.”

David nodded. He walked to his desk and turned on the small lamp there. Then he turned off the overhead lamp, leaving the room only illuminated by the soft light from the small lamp. When he turned around to the bed, Joe already lied there on his back. Trying to ignore the thumping of his heart, David made his way to the bed and got on it. He carefully slid to lie down. His bed is queen-sized but why the heck it suddenly felt a bit too small?

Joe flipped on his side. He smiled at David.

“Good night, David.”

David angled his neck a little so he could look at Joe. The small amount of light that fell on Joe’s hair made it look like his hair was faintly glowing. In the dim light, Joe’s eyes looked gentle and soothing.

David smiled back at him.

“Good night Joe.”

Joe had his eyes on David for another two seconds, his smiled lingered as a soft curl on his lips. He rested his hand on his pillow, and closed his eyes.

David looked back at the ceiling. It’s been a while since the last time he shared a bed with someone, and knowing, feeling, that somebody was lying next to him was almost foreign.

He closed his eyes, trying not to be so acutely aware of Joe’s presence a few inches away from him. But closing his eyes only made him even more aware of Joe’s steady breathing next to him. After a while, David opened his eyes back, and carefully flipped himself, so now he was facing Joe.

Joe’s chest raised up and fell down rhythmically along his breathing, his lips parted just slightly. With his eyes closed like this, he looked so peaceful. His golden curls framed his face neatly.

Without knowing why, David smiled.

Mirroring Joe, he slid his hand over his pillow. He stared at Joe’s sleeping face, his eyelids closed below thick eyebrows. David closed his eyes, feeling weirdly peaceful and calm. Joe’s steady breathing slowly lulled him to sleep.

***

It wasn’t a nightmare that wake him up. David opened his eyes and saw nothing in the dim light but some blurry silhouettes. He closed his eyes again and trying to get back to sleep when he felt something unfamiliar. In his sleep clouded mind, he knew that he was back at home in Gran Canaria.

He slowly opened his eyes back. After one whole second, he realized some unfamiliar things. The first thing, was that instead of the barren sheet, what he saw in front of him was the chest of someone, covered by a shirt which color David could not really recognize in the minimum amount of light and his state of mind at the moment. He hasn’t figured out yet why he was facing the chest of another person when the realization of another thing came to his mind. The unfamiliar, even though not unpleasant, weight he felt around his middle came from an arm, draped around his waist. His brain finally realized that the owner of the chest that he was facing was the one who had his arm around David’s waist.

His brain was not fully working but the small part of his rational mind that was half-awake told him that _no no no too close move away flip around_.

His eyelids were heavy but David managed to shift back a little. Hesitantly.

Somehow the movement stirred Joe from his sleep. As David tried to shift away from Joe for another inch, Joe opened his eyes.

“David?” His whisper was low, raspy from sleep. He looked at David, not even half awake so his words were slurry when he spoke. “Is it time to wake up yet?”

David did not know what time was it, other than it was still probably midnight because the only light was the yellowish dim one from the lamp on his desk.

“No,” he said, dangerously about to fall asleep again. “Go back to sleep, Joe.”

Joe’s eyes closed back.

“You too, David,” he murmured as he reached out and put his arm around David’s waist, pulling him closer to him.

The rational part that was in David’s mind less than a minute ago seemed to be gone now as David leaned in to Joe. He was still so sleepy and Joe was so warm. David’s eyes already closed and he was at the edge of a dream when he snuggled closer to Joe, resting his head against Joe’s chest.

Joe murmured something as he laid his chin on top of David’s head.

David hummed contently feeling the warmth, and drifted back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick PSA: I am in Nashville now and I am going to watch City's game tomorrow versus Tottenham AND I AM SO EXCITED.  
> Oh, and also, tell me what you think about this? Thank you for reading :)


	5. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> See title.

 

 

Joe was a morning person. So it wasn’t something unusual for him when he opened his eyes once the first bright lights of sunshine seeping in to the room.

The unusual thing, was to find a mop of soft brown hair under his chin.

It was too early in the morning to have his heart fluttering like this.

Joe lied still, letting his brain slowly waking up, registering the fact that he was laying on someone else’s bed, with the owner of the hair snuggling comfortably against him, sleeping like an angel.

In the peaceful quietness of early morning, Joe could hear David’s soft breathing.

One of Joe’s arms was wrapped around David’s shoulder, while David’s cheek was pressed against Joe’s chest, his hand rested on Joe’s shoulder.

There were a number of reasons why Joe liked waking up in the mornings. But at the moment, the only reason that he could think of was it meant he woke up before David, and had a chance to relish this fragile peaceful moment.

Joe let himself enjoying the pleasant warmth coming from David for another minute, and then reluctantly decided that he should probably got up.

Slowly, Joe pulled his arm away from David. David didn’t seem to be bothered by the movement. Joe carefully took David’s hand that was resting on his shoulder, and placed it on the mattress. David grunted a little and there were small creases on his forehead, but his eyelids were still closed.  Joe took a deep breath, then slowly pulled himself away. David made another grunting noise as his head slid down to the mattress. He flopped himself around so now his back was facing Joe.

Joe got off the bed, and walked to the bathroom. He opened the door. Before he walked into the bathroom, he turned his head and looked at David over his shoulder. David’s hair fell over his forehead, his eyes closed beneath his eyebrows.

Joe walked into the bathroom, already longing for the way the soft strands of David’s hair gently tickled his skin.

 

***

When Joe walked down the stairs, nobody was in the living room. But the curtains of the windows were already opened, and Joe could hear someone moving around in the kitchen. He made his way to the kitchen, finding Antonia by the kitchen island, chopping carrots.

“Good morning.”

Antonia lifted his head up and smiled once she saw Joe.

“Good morning, Joe! You’re up early.”

“I like mornings,” Joe said as he walked to the kitchen island.

“David still sleeping?”

“Uh huh,” Joe hummed as he nodded.

Antonia made a tsk sound as she shook her head but there was a small fond smile on her lips.

“When he was just a kid I was the one who woke him up every morning,” she said as she continued chopping the carrots.

“Was it difficult?”

Antonia laughed lightly. “No. David was a good kid. Nando was much more difficult to wake.”

“What was he like when he was a kid?”

Antonia stopped chopping, and looked at Joe with a small nostalgic smile.

“He’s a good boy,” she said.

“I can help you while you’re telling me stories about him,” Joe offered.

Antonia laughed again, and pushed the chopping board towards Joe. “Here. I’ll go get myself another one.”

Joe took the chopping board and the knife as Antonia took another one from one of the drawers. Joe pulled one carrot from the small bowl.

“David was born with blond hair.” Antonia started talking, telling stories from David’s early life as Joe cut the carrot into small pieces. As Joe cutting more carrots and tomatoes, he listened to Antonia’s stories about David’s childhood, keeping them in a folder in his mind that he labeled as _David_.

 

***

When David woke up, his first thought was that he was home. He was happy about that. And then he rolled to the other side, finding that he was alone.

Something oddly weighed like stones inside David’s chest. David sat up on the bed and ran a hand through his hair. He gazed at the nightstand, and his eyes rested on the alarm clock. It’s a little bit past 8 now. Rubbing his face with both hands, David got up from the bed and made his way to the bathroom. First day of being home, and he had a fake boyfriend to take care of.

 

***

Davis stopped in the doorway that led to the kitchen, dazed by what he was seeing. His grandmother was standing in front of the stove. A typical view in the mornings like this. But what amazed David was the sight of Joe sitting by the dining table, feeding Chloe some cereals. The little girl was staring at Joe with an innocent admiration in her big brown eyes.

“Good morning, David.”

His grandmother’s greeting made the other two people in the kitchen turned their heads to David. Chloe jumped off the chair and ran to where David was standing.

“Tío David!” She wrapped her arms around David’s leg. “Good morning,” she said, looking up at David with her toothy grin. Smiling at her, David lifted her up.

“Good morning, little flower girl,” he said, and kissed the tip of her nose. Chloe giggled and kissed his cheek.

David carried her as he walked to the dining table.

“Good morning, David.” Joe smiled at him. A soft curl of his lips, a warm greeting in his eyes.

David’s stomach did a funny little jump.

“Good morning, Joe.” David sat on the chair next to Joe, Chloe on his thigh.

“I don’t get a good morning kiss?” Joe asked so casually, like a morning kiss was something that he _did_ get from David every morning.

Seriously, it’s way too early in the morning to blush like this.

David moved Chloe to sit on his other thigh, closer to Joe.

“Chloe, kiss him,” David told Chloe as he pointed at Joe.

Chloe giggled again. “I have kissed Uncle Joe, Tío. You haven’t.”

For the first time ever, David wished Chloe was not his adorable 4-year old niece that he loves so much.

“Yes. Chloe gave me a good morning kiss,” Joe said. He’s wearing an innocent expression but looking at David with something that David could only describe as mischief twinkling in his eyes.

David sighed as he moved Chloe back to his other thigh.

Joe leaned forward a little, and David gave a quick kiss on his cheek.

For reason that he did not understand himself, he let his lips linger on Joe’s cheek for a beat too long. He pulled back and ruffled Chloe’s hair, just so he had a reason not to look at Joe.

“Okay, Chloe, now finish your breakfast,” Joe said. David glanced at Joe, who held a spoon with cereal. Maybe it was the light playing some trick, but Joe’s cheeks were dusted pink.

David tried not to think what might cause Joe to blush like that.

Chloe nodded and let Joe fed him the cereal.

Joe took another spoonful of cereal, and held it in front of David’s face.

“Come on, David.”

David stared at Joe. Confused.

“What?”

“Tío, it’s your favorite,” Chloe said.

Joe grinned at David. “Come on, David. Let the airplane bring your fuel for the day,” Joe said, sing-songly.

“Joe…”

“Come on, David,” Joe said, moving the spoon in circular motion.

Chloe giggled and started making a poor imitation sound of airplane.

David rolled his eyes, but opened his mouth. Joe grinned but there was something soft in his eyes as he feed David.

“Good boy,” he said, looking pleased. David’s heart did a small flip, and he looked away from Joe as he chewed the choco puffs.

“Come on, Chloe. Last one,” Joe said, and feed Chloe the last remaining cereal.

Finished with her breakfast, Chloe slid down from David.

“Here, Chloe. You can have juice today,” Antonia said, giving Chloe the glass that he was holding. “And here’s your breakfast, David.” Antonia placed a plate in front of David.

“Joe helped me making it,” Antonia said, gestured with his chin at Joe. Raising an eyebrow, David turned to Joe.

“You did?”

Joe shrugged lightly. “Just a little.” He stood up from his chair. “Coffee?”

David nodded and smiled. “Coffee sounds nice.”

Joe walked away from the dining table and took a cup from the cabinet. David watched as Joe moved around, talking with Antonia as he poured some coffee from the pot.

Joe was practically a stranger in this house.

But why did he look so naturally comfortable here?

Why it made David want to smile?

Joe came back and placed the cup in front of David, the smell filling up David’s nostril.

David sipped his coffee.

It was perfect.

David stared at Joe from the rim of his cup, and the blond stared back at him, a half-crescent moon on his lips. David returned his smile, and the tip of Joe’s lip tugged just a little higher.

David took another sip of coffee, wondering why the presence of a stranger in his house made his morning a bit brighter than usual.


	6. The People from the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David took Joe around the town. They met some people. They talked about someone from the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the longest chapter so far. Sorry about that.

* * *

 

Not long after breakfast, Joe already sitting on the passenger seat of the Jimenez’s family car. Driving with a slow speed, David showed Joe around the small town, pointing out some places, the school where he went to, the hotel where his mother was working.

The town was not really packed with tourist like Las Palmas, and there was that comfortable vibe of the familiarity of a small town, where people knew each other.

“I know that it’s still a bit early, but do you want to have lunch now?”

Joe looked at David, who had his elbow rested on the rolled-down window. The wind mussed his hair and David looked so relaxed, almost looking like he’s glowing under the sun.

“Uh, lunch?”

David turned his head to flash a glance at Joe. There was a half-smile shadowing his lips.

“Yeah, lunch,” he said.

"Sure,” Joe said, and quickly looked away from David. He didn’t trust himself to stare at David for too long. He might end up saying, or even worse: doing, things that would embarrass him.

Not that those things were things that he would not like to do, though.

“Good,” David said. “I know this restaurant that served the best local food.”

“Whatever you say, David. You’re the boss here.”

David took a left turn. The radio was on, and David softly hummed along with the song.

Joe stole another glance, carving a picture of a happy, carefree David in his mind.

*******

David took him to a restaurant that was located on the main street near the port. David parked the car right in front of the restaurant. Joe got off the car, and waited for David in front of the entrance.

Joe pulled the door open and held it for David. David walked in and gazed around the restaurant.

A guy with dark hair behind the register looked up at them. Once he saw David, a wide smile spread across his face as he quickly strolled away from the register to David.

“David! You’re here!” The man pulled David into a hug. David laughed as he hugged back.

“How are you, Guaje? How’s Patricia and the kids?”

“I’m good! Patricia and the kids are good too. Luca is now playing football too. Man, he grew up so fast!”

“Oh, make sure you bring him along to the wedding! I’d love to see him again.”

“Ah, yes. Of course!”

Joe stood awkwardly a little bit behind David, clueless on what he supposed to do. Of course, he knew his role in front of David’s family. But he has no idea who this guy was. David and the dark haired guy seemed to be at ease around each other, which Joe assumed came from a long history of friendship. Or was there something more than that?

“You have someone with you,” the guy said, leaning a little to the side and looked at Joe. There was a smile on his lips but Joe could see his piercing eyes studying Joe.

“Oh, yeah,” David stepped aside so he wasn’t blocking the space between the guy and Joe. “Joe, this is Villa, my best friend. Villa, this is Joe. He’s my…friend in Valencia.”

Joe could hear the faint hesitation in David’s words. And he hesitantly recognized the light disappointment he felt. Of course, this whole thing of being boyfriends was anything but real.

Still, Joe was disappointed more than he should have been. And he didn’t know what to feel about it. Joe quickly kicked away the disappointment into the mental garbage bin in his head as he took a step forward. He put away a smile as he shook hand with Villa.

“Hello, Villa. Nice meeting you.”

“Hello, Joe. Nice to meet you too.” Villa gave him a quick appraising look. As he pulled his hand away from Joe, he turned to David again. The corner of his lip formed a lopsided smirk. “So, I suppose this is your friend that Clara was so excited about?”

David groaned and rubbed his face with both hands.

“Clara just can’t shut up!” he said in frustration, shaking his head.

Confused, Joe’s eyes darted back and forth from David to Villa.

Villa laughed in amusement. “Clara is just so excited that her cousin finally starts another chapter in his dramatic love-life.”

David muttered something about not having a love life, but Villa already pushed his shoulder playfully toward the tables.

“You two have a seat, okay?”

Flashing an awkward smile at Villa, Joe followed David to a table by the window.

“So. Uhm… Am I still your boyfriend? In front of people other than your family, I mean.” Joe asked once they got seated across.

In front of him, David cringed. He sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“I… I guess so?” He leaned back on his seat. “But Villa is okay. He knows everything about me.”

“Oh,” Joe said as he looked down at the blue table cloth. “Okay.”

What David said made Joe think that Villa and David shared some sort of special bonding. And somehow Joe’s chest got heavier to think about it.

“Hey,” David said, making Joe lift up his head, meeting David’s eyes.

“He’s… he’s my best friend, okay? You don’t have to be jealous. Villa is like my own brother. I am the godfather of his son,” David explained.

Joe chuckled as a mysterious tangle unknotted in his chest. But then his stomach twisted. He gave David a tight nervous smile.

“Yeah. No, I mean… of course no. Why should I be jealous?” Joe said, trying his best to sound calm. “It’s not like we’re really dating anyway,” he added.

It’s almost funny how quickly the color of David’s cheeks turned into a cherry color.

“No! I mean, yeah! Yes. You’re right! No, we’re not!” David said.

The words tumbled down off his lips, Joe couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

“I mean, I just… Well. I don’t want you. No. Not jealous. I mean…” David’s hands frantically moved around as he stared at Joe with wide eyes. “I just... Well. You know, I don’t want you to get a wrong impression?”

He cringed as he ran a nervous hand over his head. “You know what I mean.”

Joe didn’t know what David meant.

“Yeah,” Joe said, nodding at him. “I know what you mean.”

David let out a relieved sigh, his shoulders slumped down as he looks more relaxed now.

“So I don’t have to pretend to be anything but your friend in front of him?”

The smile on David’s lips was now a comforting one. He shook his head.

“No,” he said. “You can be whatever you want to be in front of him.”

_I wanted to be your real boyfriend._

“Good,” Joe said. “Should be easier then.”

In fact, Joe didn’t think that Villa could easily be fooled with their acts. From the way his piercing eyes studied Joe, Joe could see that Villa was someone who would take no shit from anyone. Not to mention that his friendship with David would make it even easier to see through their acts.

David gave him one of those smiles. The one where only the left tip of his lips that was curled up, forming a half-smile.

One of those smiles that made Joe forgot to breathe for a second.

Joe drew some abstract pattern on the table cloth, trying not to think how them sitting in a restaurant like this was the closest one that they ever had to a date.

“You’ve been friends with him for long?”

“Yeah,” David said. He brushed some hair from covering his eyes. “We went to the same school. He’s my senior by a year but we played football together.”

“You guys are talking about me?” Villa showed up next to their table, holding a tray with two tall glasses of iced tea. He placed the glass in front each of them then took a seat in another chair by their table.

“So,” Villa said, a small smirk on his lips. He rested his folded arms on the table. “Spill. Tell me the story. The real story.”

David let out another groan as he threw his head to the back.

“I’m not David’s boyfriend. Not a real one, at least,” Joe quickly said.

He thought it would just be the same as ripping a bandage. The quicker you rip it, the less it hurt.

It still felt bitter anyway. And it still kind of hurt.

Villa’s head snapped from David to Joe.

“Oh?” The look in his eyes was somewhat skeptical. “So you’re not?”

Joe shook his head, stretching his lips into a tight smile. “No,” he said. “I am… just a friend.” He hoped that none of the others heard how he stuttered a bit.

Villa gave him another piercing look, and Joe could feel him going straight through layers of Joe’s defense.

“You’re sure about that?”

A rush of heat quickly spread from Joe’s neck to all over his face, but Joe was saved from any obligation to respond by David half-shrieking at Villa.

“Villa! For fuck’s sake can you just drop it?”

Villa burst out into a laughter. David shook his head as he buried his face in his hands. Villa stood up from his seat and ruffled David’s hair.

“Your food will be ready in a second, okay Silvita?”

He smiled at Joe, and walked away from their table.

Joe pulled his glass closer, and slowly drank the iced tea from the straw.

“Sorry about that.”

Joe lifted his head up and found David was looking at him. There was a small apologetic smile on his lips, the look in his caramel eyes were somehow at the borderline of fragile, like David was really afraid that Joe got upset.

Joe smiled back at him. “Don’t be. You have nothing to be sorry about.”

David’s smile got wider. The fragile look in his eyes washed away, and the light in those eyes made a thousand butterflies flipped their wings in Joe’s stomach

*******

There was something about Joe’s eyes. Something that did funny, foreign things to David. Like now, when he smiled softly at him, telling David not to worry about this whole mess of being fake boyfriends. There was just something about how those emerald eyes looking at him and made something danced inside David’s rib cage.

David quickly looked down at his glass.

“News travels fast here, I notice.”

David snorted and sipped his iced tea. “Tell me about it. I love this town but yeah, this is the place where you practically know everyone and everyone knows you.”

He stirred the drink with the straw. “Patricia, Villa’s wife, she and Clara are teachers in the same school,” he explained.

“I see,” Joe nodded.

“Hello, David. Long time not see.”

David lifted up and instantly smiled at Jordi who’s bringing their food.

“Jordi! How are you?’

“I’m good,” Jordi nodded. “Here’s our today’s special for you,” he said, placing a plate in front of David. “And for this fine gentleman we have here,” he said as he placed another plate in front of Joe.

Jordi turned his head and winked at David. He straightened his back up.

“If there is anything else that you need, let me know.”

“This looks really good,” Joe said as he picked up his knife and fork.

“Yeah,” David grinned. “Take it from me, Villa’s restaurant is the best in this island.”

Joe took a bite of his food, and made a small moaning sound.

“David, this is great. Can we take back the whole restaurant to Valencia?”

David laughed. “Told you so,” he said, and started eating.

For a minute or two, none of them said anything, busy with their first bites of the food.

“David? Can I ask you something?’

“Sure.”

But Joe said nothing for a moment, David lifted his head up from his food. Joe had his eyes on the plate in front of him, cutting the meat into smaller pieces with an unnecessary precision.

“Joe? What is it?”

“Who is Sergio?” Joe asked but still refusing to look at David.

“Which Sergio? I know at least two Sergios.”

Joe bit his lower lip and flashed a glance at David. “Uhm… Clara said something about a Sergio, that will also come to the wedding?”

“Oh,” David said and looked down at his own plate. “He’s a….” David faltered, didn’t really know how to put his explanation into words. The hesitation that Joe was showing made him want to make sure that Joe didn’t get any wrong impression.

“He was…” David absently pushed a piece of meat around. He sighed. “He was my ex-boyfriend. Before you.”

“Oh?”

Then David realized the last part of his explanation implying something else. He quickly shook his head.

“I mean…. Uhm. We… Well, Sergio… Kun, he was my ex-boyfriend and we broke up about a year ago?”

David knew that what he said didn’t  add any useful information. But Joe already asked him another question.

“So it didn’t go well?”

David shook his head. “But it was a mutual decision anyway.”

David took another spoonful of his food, and chewed it while his mind went back to when he and Sergio were still together. And then he looked at Joe, and strangely, Joe reminded him of Kun, in one way or another. Which was weird. Kun was about the same height as David while Joe was a few good inches taller than him, David could fit perfectly under his chin if he ever snuggled into Joe (David almost shuddered to realize that he was imagining cuddling with Joe). Kun had this well-groomed beard that he was so proud of while Joe was always clean-shaven (David kind of like the scent of the after shave balm that Joe had but of course it was irrelevant and meant nothing at all).

And of course, Kun’s dark hair was a huge opposite of Joe’s golden blond curls.

Still, Joe and Kun, both of them were charming in their own way.

“What made you two come to that decision, if I may ask?”

Joe’s question made David arched an eyebrow. Joe looked up from his plate for a second but he quickly looked down again.

“I’m sorry,” Joe said. “I just... You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.”

“No,” David shook his head. “It’s okay.”

Joe lifted his head up again and this time there was something soft in his eyes, something that David could not put into words.

“I just… You know, don’t want to make the same mistake.”

David tilted his head to the side, didn’t really understand what Joe meant by that.

Joe seemed to be taken aback a bit by his own question.

“I mean, if… if I ever somehow get in a relationship.” Joe’s voice sounded a bit unsteady but David decided to ignore it.

“It was just…” David shrugged his shoulder. “As cliché as it may sound, it wasn’t meant to be. Kun is a people person. He’s this fun-loving guy. People love him and he loves being around people.”

“And you don’t?”

David chewed his lower lip. “People exhaust me,” he said. “It’s like…being surrounded by too many people, it's draining my energy.”

David brushed his hair away from covering his eyes, and gave Joe a nervous smile.

“I’m sorry. It doesn’t make sense. I know.”

In front of him, Joe shook his head. “Don’t be. What are you sorry about? It makes sense.”

David looked away to the window. Yes, it might be something that made sense for Joe. But not for Kun.

That had always been one of their biggest issues.  Kun could never understand David’s reluctance to stay too long in parties, or in general, being with people he didn’t really know yet. While Kun found it to be something exciting, it’s something exhausting for David.

They tried. But after about six months of trying, both know that they just wouldn’t make it together. Kun needed someone who could share his excitement and energy. David needed someone who could understand his needs for a comfortable peacefulness. Kun didn’t want to get bored by what he thought as something so mundane while David didn’t want to let himself be trapped in a relationship where he was constantly being emotionally tired.

“David,”

David turned his head back to Joe. The half-smile on Joe’s lips was a gentle one, and the soft look in his eyes was soothing.

“Don’t be sorry for being who you are. Not everyone has to be a people person. It doesn’t make you a bad person.”

David snorted. “Yeah,” he said. “It just makes me a boring person.”

Joe shook his head. “No,” he said. “It just makes you a person with an interesting personality.”

There was just something in Joe’s words, or maybe it’s the way he said it, that David found to be comforting. He smiled at Joe, tried not to think about the warm comfortable feeling that seeping in.

“Thank you,” he said.

The half-smile on Joe’s lips got wider. Joe nodded and bowed his head down again, finishing his food. But David could still see how Joe’s cheeks were tinged with a faint pink blush.

*******

An hour later, David and Joe left the restaurant after saying goodbye to Villa. They were walking to where David parked the car, laughing at something that Joe just said about typical-small-town kind of life. Then a voice calling his name made David stopped.

“David!”

Speaking of the devil.

Of course. _Of_ course he had to somehow meet all the people that he’d rather not meet.

Forcing himself to smile, David turned to where the voice came from.

“David! It’s really you!”

“Alexis.” David tried his best to keep on smiling as the blond guy walking closer towards them with wide steps.

“How are you, David? So good to see you again,” Alexis said as he pulled David into a hug.

David awkwardly returned the hug and once he assumed it’s acceptable to end the hug without being rude, David pulled himself away and took a step backward. Alexis might not be his favorite person in the world, but his mother taught him better than being a rude person.

“I’m good,” David said. “How are you?”

The way Alexis stared at him with a strange intensity almost made David shuddered. Without even thinking, he stepped closer to Joe.

“I’m good,” Alexis said and ran his fingers through his blond hair. “I haven’t seen you for so long, David. I miss you!”

“Uhm. Yeah. I’ve been busy.”

“Too busy to call me?” Alexis said, a flirtatious smile on his lips.

David felt a hand sneaking in around the back of his shoulder. He didn’t even realize that a smile creeping in.

“Alexis, this is Joe, my boyfriend.”

To be honest, David was impressed by how confident he was on saying the words.

Still with an arm around David’s shoulder, Joe stretched out his free hand towards Alexis. Joe’s smile was a charming one as he shook Alexis’ hand.

“Hello, Alexis. I’m Joe, David’s boyfriend. Nice to meet you.”

A shadow fell on Alexis’ face as he shook hand with Joe. He quickly pulled his hand away, and slid his hands into the pocket of his jeans.

“Boyfriend?”

David nodded. “For the last six months,” he said, pressing the side of his body to Joe’s figure. “Right, babe?” he said, looking up at Joe as he wrapped an arm around Joe’s waist.

Joe was staring back at him, the smile on his lips was a genuine one and he looked at David like David was the only thing that he cared to look at. For a second, David forgot to breathe. He forgot that Alexis was standing in front of them. He forgot that this whole thing was not for real.

“Yes, and it has been the most beautiful six months I’ve ever had in my life,” Joe said, his eyes never fell off from David’s.

He sounded so sincere, David had a hard time to remember that Joe was faking it. _Both_ _of them_ were faking this.

Still, the way Joe looked and smiled at him made David breathless for a second.

“Oh.”

Alexis short comment made David turned his head back. Alexis was smiling slightly but his eyes were cold.

“I didn’t expect you to move on so quickly after Kun,” Alexis said rather sharply.

A nauseating anger swirling inside David’s stomach. But before he said anything, Joe squeezed his shoulder.

“Same here. I didn’t expect him to return my feeling, actually. Even until now, I still feel that he’s too good for me,” Joe said. David let out a small surprised gasp. His head snapped to look up at Joe, but apparently Joe hasn’t finished yet.

“And about moving on too quickly, don’t worry. David and I, we both are moving at our own pace,” Joe angled his head to meet David’s eyes.

David stared at Joe, scared by how much he suddenly wanted to kiss Joe.

“Okay. Whatever,” Alexis said as he shrugged his shoulder. David looked back at Alexis. He started to feel guilty but then he saw the way Alexis scrunched his nose at Joe, like he was disgusted at Joe.

David stopped feeling guilty at once. He remembered how Alexis used to be one of the worst bully in school just because his father held an important position in the town, and he decided that no, he should not feel guilty.

“Well, nice meeting you, Alexis.  But we’ve got to go now. I want to take Joe have a look around the town.” David smiled at him,

“Oh. Yeah, sure.” Alexis gave them another thin, stiff smile. Without saying anything else, he turned around and walked away.

“Well…” Joe said. “That was quite…interesting…”

David looked at Joe. Joe was still watching Alexis who disappeared into his red sport car. Joe had a small amused smile as he eyed Alexis drove away with a speed that potentially would give him some trouble.

David sighed. He shook his head as he rubbed his face with both hands.

“So that was the Alexis that Clara was talking about?”

David arched an eyebrow as he looked at Joe. “You were really listening to Clara?”

Joe laughed and ruffled David’s hair fondly. “Hey, I need to take notes about my competitors, right?”

He winked at David as he slid his hands into his pocket. David felt another weird swirl inside his stomach as he could feel he dangerously started blushing.

“Come on,” he said as he walked to the driver’s side of the car. “Get in the car.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once upon a time, Alexis and David made a cute couple in lots of fics.


	7. The "Moment"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where David and Joe had...a moment together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I know that it's not Friday yet but now that I only have one more chapter to write I think I'll just post this one now. If everything goes as planned, fingers crossed I will post the last chapter of this fic this Sunday.  
> 2\. If any of you notice it, yes, I've changed the number of the total chapter to be 10. Sorry about that. It's just...(as usual) things change from what I have planned before as I write the story.

 

Joe lifted up his head from the screen of his phone when he heard David walked out from the bathroom. He put his phone on the nightstand beside the bed as David turned on the small lamp on his desk. After he turned off the overhead lamp, he walked to the bed and carefully slid into his side of the bed. Joe watched as he lied on his side.

“Thanks for taking me around,” he said.

David turned his head to Joe, and even in the dark Joe could still see the small smile on David’s lips.

“You had a good day?”

Joe nodded. “Yeah. I had a great day.”

“Good to hear that, I am glad you enjoy it,” David said. Then he sighed, his lips stretched into a thin line. “And… I am sorry…”

Joe raised his eyebrows. “Sorry? What for?”

David flipped himself so now he was lying on his side too, facing Joe. The dim yellowish light creating shadow around his face. ”About… Alexis…”

Joe chuckled. He slid one hand under the pillow, so he could stop himself from reaching out to David and caressing his cheek.

“You seriously have nothing to sorry about all of your exes, David.”

The way David scrunched his nose and how his lips pouted made Joe can barely hold himself from kissing David.

“Alexis was not my ex. He would never even be a boyfriend for me.” David shook his head. “I never liked him anyway.”

“Why? Because he’s blond?”

David’s eyes widened. “What? No!”

Joe laughed as David shoved his shoulder.

“Oh, come on, Joe. Since when you become an ally to Clara?”

“Hey, I am just trying to be on the good side of your family members, okay?”

Mirroring Joe’s position, David slid one hand under his pillow. “I have nothing against blond hair,” he said, this time in a much lower voice. He was not looking at Joe. His eyes lowered down, like he was talking to the sheet.

“It’s just not your type?”

David chewed his lower lip. “Depends. I mean, there are people who look good with blond hair.” He looked up, meeting Joe’s eyes.

“What about me?” Joe blurted out. His heart was jumping like crazy in his rib cage and Joe knew that he sounded like a pathetic fool, asking that kind of question. But he badly wanted to know that despite this whole fake boyfriend game they were acting out, there was something about him that David truly liked.

David’s eyes flicked from Joe’s eyes to his hair, and when his eyes were back at Joe’s, there was something soft in it.

“Yeah.” David’s voice was even softer this time, barely a whisper. “Your hair is…nice…”

David’s eyes darted to Joe’s hair again. Joe’s heart was still doing a crazy thing but this time it’s more like a crazy happy dancing instead of a crazy jumping.

“You can touch it, you know,” Joe whispered.

“Can I?” David asked.

Joe nodded, and shifted just a little bit closer. David carefully reached out his hand to Joe’s head. Joe closed his eyes, barely felt the light pressure of David’s fingertips on his hair. He opened his eyes and found David was staring at him. His lips were slightly curling up into a small smile, his caramel eyes looked even softer in the low light.

Joe smiled back at him and he felt that David’s fingers started threading through his hair. His heart twitched with bliss.

“Good night, David,” Joe whispered.

“Good night, Joe.”

Joe closed his eyes, letting himself leaning in to David’s touch. David didn’t stop running his fingers through Joe’s hair, and Joe did nothing to stop him.

Not so long after, Joe drifted to a peaceful sleep, a small content smile lingered on his lips.

 

*******

Joe should have just got up from the bed once he woke up.

But no. Of course, once he woke up and found that his arm was around David, while David had the his cheek pressed comfortably against Joe’s chest as he slept, of course Joe just couldn’t tear his eyes away from the sight.

 _Just one more minute_ , Joe thought to himself as he watched David snuggled against Joe, as if he was looking for warmth from Joe while he was sleeping.

Then one minute passed into five minutes and Joe still could not make himself move away, could not make himself stop staring at David. David’s chest softly moved up and down as he breathed, inhaling the air by his nose and exhaling it from his mouth that was slightly opened.

Five minutes passed by and Joe didn’t even realize it. Because suddenly time was a forgotten concept when he had David sleeping peacefully in his arm. Time meant nothing when he was watching this softest thing he’s ever witnessed.

Then suddenly it’s too late already.

David started to stir around and there was no way Joe could move away from him without waking David up with a surprise.

Lying still, Joe watched with a crazy beating heart as David’s eyelid fluttered open. David slowly craned his head, looking up at Joe with sleepy eyes. He blinked slowly for two or three times, like he was trying to get his sight back in focus.

David stared at Joe for a moment, looking half-asleep, half-confused. Then he closed his eyes again and much to Joe’s surprise, he looked down again as he pressed his forehead softly against Joe’s chest. Joe could hear David mumbled something that he could not catch, as David’s voice was muffled a little.

“Huh? What?”

David let out a small huff that suspiciously sounded more like a suppressed laugh. David pulled back just a bit.

“No wonder it feels so warm,” David said. He looked up at Joe for just a mere second, then buried his face again on Joe’s chest.

Joe was almost sure that David perhaps was still sleeping.

Whether David was still half-asleep or no, Joe could not make himself care as he started to play with David’s hair.

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s warm because you have me as your real-life size teddy bear.”

David let out a small chuckling noise. “You’re more like a golden retriever, Joe.”

“Sure. And you’re a koala.”

David made a small strange sound, half-chuckling half-squealing.

“Koala?” Amusement glints in his eyes as he looked up again at Joe. “Me? Koala? Why?”

To be honest, Joe didn’t even know himself why he said such a silly thing. But the feel of David’s soft hair between his finger and the way David snuggled on him like a koala hugging a tree, koala is the only animal equivalent of David that Joe could think of.

Joe shrugged a shoulder. “Well, koala likes sleeping.”

David looked down again, pressing his forehead on Joe’s shoulder as he laughed. Just a small, light laugh. And really, nobody should sound and look so adorable when they just woke up, with rough voice and tousled hair from the sleep.

“Everybody likes sleeping, Joe.”

“And especially you, David. I bet you like sleeping more than everybody else does.”

David let out another small laugh. Joe smiled as his heart felt like it was filled with warm light air. He kept on running his fingers through David’s hair, absently wondering whether koala did have fur as soft as David’s hair.

“You should go back to sleep, David,” Joe said softly.

“But you’re awake already,” David said, craning his neck to look up at Joe.

Their eyes locked. Eyes green as a lush meadow in summer meet the warm caramel eyes, and for a moment, the world stopped spinning to hold its breath. Or maybe the world has exploded and shattered into million broken pieces, and still Joe could not make himself care.

A few seconds passed by but again, time suddenly became nothing but a forgotten concept when Joe couldn’t tear his eyes away from David’s. He could not think about anything else when the only thing in his mind was how much he wanted to understand what was the meaning of the way David was looking at him.

“Joe…”

The way David said his name, like he was whispering a secret prayer in the middle of the night made something inside Joe was about to explode.

The only thing that made Joe realize that he’s been leaning his face forward was when he saw how David’s face was slowly getting closer to his. There was a warm light flickered in David’s eyes but before Joe could think of anything else besides how captivating those eyes were, David’s eyes fluttered closed.

His heart thumping in his rib cage, Joe slowly leaned even further. David’s breath was ghosting over the skin above Joe’s lips as Joe closed his eyes.

A split second later, his eyes opened in shock as a loud knocking came from the door. The two of them sprung to opposite direction. Joe shook his head as he sat up, pressing his back against the headboard. He closed his eyes as he tried to regain his normal breathing. David groaned as he rubbed his face with both hands.

The knocking came back. This time, a voice that Joe recognized as Clara’s followed the knocking.

“David?”

David let out another groan.

“Yeah?”

“Can I come in?”

“It’s not locked!”

Joe awkwardly tugged up the thin blanket a little higher. It was not like he needed to hide anything anyway. But still.

The door creaked opened, and Clara peeked her head in, grinning at them.

“I’m not interrupting anything, aren’t I?” Clara asked with a teasing smile.

“Oh, shut up Clara!” David glared at his cousin. Joe tried stretching his lips into a smile, but since he was still a bit dizzy from the sudden change of the situation, the smile looked more like a cringe.

But it looked like something else caught Clara’s eyes, as now she was looking at them with one of her eyebrows crooked up.

“You two are arguing or something?”

Joe’s eyebrows shot upward.

“Huh?” David sounded confused.

Joe turned his head to David. His eyes fell on the sheet and it made him realize, that the two of them were sitting up on the bed at the very end of each side of the bed. The distance between them was practically the width of the bed. He looked up again right when David was staring at him. Suddenly feeling his cheeks warmer, Joe turned his head away from David to look at Clara.

“No, it’s just-“ Joe said.

“No, we’re not!” David said at the same time.

Clara’s lips twitched a little and Joe could feel the heat creeping down from his neck to his spine. He nervously shifted closer towards David. David seemed to have the same idea as he was also moving closer to Joe.

Joe took the pillow and held it over his middle with both hands.

He tried to smile at Clara. “No, we’re good,” he shook his head.

“Yeah,” David said. He took Joe’s hand and held it. “We’re good. We were just having a… moment before you came.”

 _A moment_.

Joe had no idea what to think of about the way David referred to what just happened less than five minutes ago.

Clara chuckled. “Hey, at least I knocked the door! Besides, both of you looked…decent,” she said and winked at them.

Joe never thought that it was possible to blush with his whole body. Apparently, it was possible.

David let out a sigh as he ran a hand over his head. He was still holding Joe’s hand but of course nobody needed to know how Joe’s stomach flipped to realize it.

“Clara, just… What is it?”

Clara blinked, like she just realized that there was a reason why she was there.

“Oh! Abuela wants you to drive her to the market in an hour. So you better start getting ready now.”

“Is that all?” David asked again, sounding a bit annoyed.

“And don’t forget about the wedding rehearsal. And also the dinner is at 7.”

“Okay. Now. Get out.”

Clara dramatically clutched her hand over her chest.  “Ouch. My beloved cousin ditched me for his boyfriend. I’m hurt.”

“Clara. OUT!”

“Okay. I’m out now. Just remember that you only have one hour before you have to drive abuela to the market. So whatever moment that you two were having, you better finish it quickly.” Clara winked at Joe and swiftly turned around, closing the door behind her.

For a few seconds, Joe stared at the now-closed door. When he heard a soft sigh from David, he turned his head to him. David shook his head lightly then looked at Joe with a small sheepish smile on his lips.

“Sorry about that.”

Joe returned the smile. “It was nothing.”

David looked down to where their hands were still tangled together. David bit his lower lip as he slowly pulled his hand away.

A pang of disappointment hit Joe’s in the chest, but then David looked up at him again, cheeks blushed like cherries.

“I… I better take a shower now,” he said.

“Yeah,” Joe nodded. “Your abuela is waiting.”

Joe watched David’s back as he made his way to the bathroom. When David disappeared into the bathroom, Joe looked down to his hand.

He stared at his hands, and wondered whether the moment that David said meant something, anything at all to him. Because yes, no matter how pathetic it might sound, it meant something to Joe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> David's spirit animal is a koala and Joe's is a golden retriever. You cannot convince me otherwise.


	8. The Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Joe met David's ex-boyfriend.  
> The one where David got jealous at his ex-boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say I hate Windows 10 and its stupid automatic updates. It made me wait for seven torturing hours before I finally could post this chapter.

There were a lot of things that David did not understand about. And one of them, was the necessity of having a wedding rehearsal. But being in one, he kind of got the idea why maybe in some cases, it was needed. David never realized before that who walked before who and here you supposed to stand were things that really matter in a wedding.

Still, David got a bit confused every now and then in the rehearsal. The first time the wedding organizer - a lady with a striking red hair - mentioned something about choreography, David was stunned to think that instead of walking, people had to dance their way on the aisle. It was Joe who told him that choreography here meant the way people move in the right order, pace and manner so everything went smoothly.

After what felt like hours for David, the wedding organizer finally decided that all the people being involved in the wedding ceremonies, quoting her words, “have a proper and throughout understanding about the choreography to make sure that all of you will flow with it seamlessly tomorrow”.

Thankfully, the rehearsal finished not so late, so they could still go to Villa’s restaurant for the rehearsal dinner on time.

He was walking side by side with Joe to the restaurant, talking and laughing about how Clara seemed to be the one who kept on testing the wedding organizer’s patience with her questions and remarks throughout the rehearsal.

They were only about a few steps away from the restaurant’s entrance when Joe asked David.

“Hey, David. Can you send me that picture of me with Chloe? It was on your phone, right?”

“Yeah, sure,” David said, reaching in to his pockets. He stopped once he realized that his phone wasn’t with him.

“Oh, crap!” David muttered. “I must have left my phone in the car.”

He looked up at Joe. “I’ll go grab my phone.”

“Okay,” Joe said. “I’ll just wait here.”

David shook his head. “No, no. You can go ahead. Won’t be long.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay then,” Joe said. “Do you want me to save you a seat?”

David chuckled. “Hey, we’re boyfriends. I thought sitting next to each other is already a by-default setting?”

Something flickered in Joe’s eyes. But it might have been just David’s imagination as Joe was now already laughing.

“Yeah. Sure.”

As Joe pulled the door and walked into the restaurant, David quickly made his way back to where he parked the car. 

Once he opened the car’s door, he saw his phone in the middle console of the car. David reached out to grab it, and as if on cue, the phone started ringing once David’s hand touched it.

His eyebrows knitted once he saw Samir’s name on the screen.

David slid his finger on the screen and pressed the phone against his ear as he closed the door.

“Hello?”

"David, I know that you’re still on vacation and this is Friday evening but if you don’t want Pep to kill me, you have to help me.”

David rolled his eyes. “What if I am okay with Pep killing you?”

“No! If he kills me you will no longer have your amazing friend.”

“Samir, first of all, sometimes I can’t even make myself calling you as a friend. Second, I surely can’t describe you as someone amazing.”

“Okay. Let’s see it this way then. If you help me, I will gladly call you as an amazing friend.”

“I am amazing and I don’t need validation from anyone about it, especially not from you.”

“Dah- _veed_ …”

David sighed. He leaned his back on the car and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay. But just so you know…Even though I am helping you, I am not actually against the idea of Pep killing you.”

“David, you, are truly amazing friend.”

“Just a casual reminder, I am amazing and I don’t need your validation about it.”

“Whatever. So. Do you know about this new client from Italy? Conte something?”

“Yeah? What about him?”

“Well… I might, or might not, have did something…”

 

*******

Fifteen minutes later, after guiding Samir through some step-by-step actions to prevent Samir’s stupid mistake causing a chaos, David walked back to the restaurant with wide steps. When he was only a few feet away from the door, the door swung opened and Villa walked out.

“David! There you are!”

David raised his eyebrows as Villa hastily made another few steps before stopped right in front of David.

“Before you enter the restaurant, I have two questions for you.”

David tilted his head to the left, arching an eyebrow questioningly at Villa. “What?”

“Okay. First question. You and Kun, you two are still in good terms, right? I mean, despite the fact that you two are no longer together.”

David frowned a little at the question. He shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah, I guess so.” He ran a hand over his head. “We’re not actually friends, but yeah, we’re good.”

Besides, like it or not, Kun was a good friend of Javi, whom tomorrow would officially be David’s brother in law. So it’s not like David could totally erase Kun from his life anyway.

“So you’re not like…angry or mad at him, aren’t you?”

David had no idea why Villa suddenly asking him some weird questions.

“Angry? Why should I?”

“I’ll take it that you’re not, then.”

“Villa, what is-“

“Now, the second question.”

David rolled his eyes. “Villa, technically it’s going to be your third question.”

Villa waved his hand dismissively. “Since when you care about technicalities?”

“I work as a system developer, Villa. I speak technicalities.”

“I thought you speak Spanish and English?”

David glared at Villa. There were times when David wished he had friends who’re not always testing his patience.

“Anyway,” Villa said and cleared his throat. “You and Joe?”

David’s heart stopped beating for a second as he froze. Before he could say anything, Villa already continued his question.

“You and Joe are not really, _actual_ boyfriend, are you?”

David blinked.

“Uh,” David said. His hand flew to his neck, nervously rubbing the back of it. “Well. No?”

Realizing how uncertain he sounded, David tried to straighten his back as he shook his head. “Ehm. No.”

Once he met Villa’s eyes, the intensity of Villa’s piercing look made David looked away.

“You sure about that?”

David turned his head back to Villa, but kept his eyes at a sign tucked with a wide tape at the restaurant’s entrance. The words ‘CLOSED FOR PRIVATE EVENT’ were printed out in bold letters.

“Yeah,” he said. “Of course.”

For a while Villa didn’t say anything to that, and David was too scared to look straight at him. Villa made a small chuckling sound.

“Okay,” Villa said. David averted his gaze back at Villa, who was now having a small lopsided smirk on his lips.

“Very well, then. If that’s what you said.”

The amusement in Villa’s tone made David crooked an eyebrow. But Villa slung his arm around David’s shoulder and dragged him into the restaurant.

“Now, let’s have some dinner, shall we?”

David frowned, still confused. Once they stepped into the restaurant, Villa patted his shoulder.

“And oh, if you can, keep the drama to the minimum, okay?”

_What?_

“Drama?”

Villa gestured with his chin to the tables, where David’s families and some friends were sitting. David looked at the direction that Villa pointed at.

Suddenly he forgot about the questions that Villa had just asked him.

He forgot that they were at a rehearsal dinner, where the families and friends of the bride and groom supposed to mingle.

He forgot that Joe was not his real boyfriend.

He totally forgot all those small details and unimportant things, as what he was seeing made annoyance swirl with heat inside of him.

Kun was sitting next to Joe, talking and laughing with the blonde.

 _His_ Joe.

Okay, maybe putting a possessive pronoun was not technically correct. But that’s one of the small, not so relevant detail that David was kind of forgetting at the moment.

Sitting on the chair, Kun was angling his torso so he was facing Joe, leaning a bit too forward for people who have just met each other.

From where he was standing, David could see how Kun was beaming a smile at Joe. And David knew Kun well enough to recognize that the smile was not a friendly one. Kun’s smile was a _flirtatious_ one. Joe said something that made Kun laughed. And as he laughed, Kun lightly rubbed his hand over Joe’s upper arm.

An irrational part of David growled in anger. And that irrational part took him over, making him walk to where Kun and Joe were sitting.

Joe was the first one who realized that David was coming. Averting his eyes from Kun, he beamed a smile at David.

“Hey, David! I’ve been won-“

Joe was cut-off mid-word as David stopped right next to his chair, cupping Joe’s cheek with his hand and leaned forward to kiss Joe’s cheek. David’s lips stayed there for a beat too long than just a chaste kiss. When he pulled back, his lips brushed the corner of Joe’s mouth. David straightened his back but kept his hand on Joe’s cheek.

“Hello, babe. Sorry to keep you waiting,” he said to Joe.

Joe blinked for two or three times. Still looking a bit dazzled, he smiled back at David.

“Hello, you.”

Joe looked at him with his greenish eyes like David was handing him the moon. For a moment David wondered whether Joe has ever looked at another person like the way he was looking at David now.

David pulled away his hand from Joe but placed another quick, chaste kiss on Joe’s forehead. He took a seat on the vacant chair next to Joe. He leaned forward a little on his seat so he could look at Kun

“Oh, hey Kun,” he said along with a small polite smile. “I didn’t see you there.”

Nando who was sitting at his other side snorted. “Of course. I don’t think you see anyone but your boyfriend.”

David flashed his brother a rather smug smile. “Well, what can I do about it?” He lifted his glass and sipped his drink. “That’s what happens when I have the most gorgeous boyfriend in the world.” He turned his head to Joe and winked at him.

Joe’s face was crimson and a small strangled noise fell from his mouth. David turned his head away from Joe as he took another sip, the smug smile stayed on his lips.

 But the smile instantly turned into a frown when he heard Kun’s voice.

“So, Joe.”

“Yeah?” Joe turned his head again to where Kun was sitting on his right.

David placed his glass back to the table as he tried to focus his hearing on the two guys.

“There is this bar just a few blocks away from here so if you-“

“Sorry Kun, but we have plans.” David cut Kun’s sentence as he placed his arm around Joe’s waist and leaned forward again, fixing his eyes at Kun.

“We do?” Joe said as he looked at David with confusion. David slightly pressed his fingers against Joe’s waist. Joe yelped a little then quickly looked back at Kun. “Yeah. We do. We have a plan. Me and David.”

Kun looked at them skeptically but before he said something else, David pointed at the steak on Joe’s plate with his chin.

“That looks so good, babe. Can I have some?”

“Sure,” Joe said, grinning. David let go of his arm from Joe to let Joe cut a small piece of his steak. From the corner of his eyes, David could see the way Kun’s smile disappeared into a thin line. But when Joe fed him the steak with his fork, David could only look at Joe, the soft curl of the smile on Joe’s lips and the gentle look in his eyes.

Twenty minutes later, Joe leaned to whisper at David. “Did I forget something?”

“Huh?” David glanced at Joe but continued eating his meal. “What?”

“Do we really do have a plan after this?” Joe asked him quietly.

David felt his cheeks reddening. “Well, no,” he said as he studiously stared at the remaining steamed vegetables on his plate.

He chewed his lower lip then angled his neck to meet Joe’s eyes. “But…we can if you want to.”

There was a vague smile on Joe’s lips that was barely there. “You don’t have to,” Joe said. “If you don’t want to, then you don’t have to.”

Once the last word fell from Joe’s mouth, he had his eyes on his own plate.

David stayed silent and took another bite of his potato.

He had no idea how to tell Joe that he wanted to.

And most of all, he had no idea why he wanted to.               

 

***

 

The waiters were taking away their plates and replacing them with small plates of dessert. David stared at the cheesecake in front of them for a while, then made a decision.

“Hey, Joe?”

“Hm?”

David looked up at Joe. He smiled sheepishly as he brushed away his hair from his forehead.

“You want to walk on the beach after this?”

The light that fell on Joe’s hair made a soft glow around his head, but the light in Joe’s eyes are somehow brighter.

“That sounds lovely,” Joe said, lips curling into a smile.

For a second, David forgot how to breathe.

“And by the way, can I have some of your cake there?” Joe asked, gesturing a little to David’s plate.

David grinned, and cut a small piece from his cake with a fork.

He fed Joe the cake and pretended not to hear the gagging sound that Nando was making next to him. As he watched Joe ate it, a small part of his mind wondering whether Joe’s lips will taste like the cheesecake if he kissed him now.

 

*******

 

The beach has always been a quiet place. And since it was quite late already, they were the only people there. The sound of waves crashing down the seashore filled in the comforting silence as they walked side by side.

They’ve been walking in silence for a while. And David felt strangely, but pleasantly, calm. He didn’t even feel the need to say anything just to fill in the silence. Every now and then, he would glance up at Joe. And when Joe caught him, he would only smile at David. David would smile back at him and looked away from him, feeling like they were sharing a secret together under the dark sky.

After a while, David let out a sigh.

“So,” he said and stopped walking. He turned to look at the sea. The horizon was nothing but a blur dark line. Following David, Joe stopped and gazed at the sea too.

“You met Kun,” David said.

Joe just hummed to answer him.

“What do you think about him?”

A few heartbeats passed in silence. David turned his head to look at Joe who still had his eyes on the horizon.

“He’s a…nice guy.” Joe finally answered him.

“Oh.”

David looked down and slid his hands into his pockets.

Silence again.

“Uh…Do you like him?” David asked carefully.

Joe let out a small chuckling sound and it made David look up at him again. Joe was looking at him, and his smile looked like a crescent moon.

“Well,” Joe said. “Not the way I-“ Joe stopped as he looked away and ran a hand over his head. He cleared his throat as he turned his head back to David.

“I mean, I like him but not like _like_ him.”

A strange feeling of relief filled David’s lungs with light warm air.

“Oh,” he said. “Good.”

His feet froze but his cheeks were burning when he realized how stupid and pathetic his reaction was.

“I... I mean, okay. Yeah. Sure.”

David quickly looked away from Joe, so glad that the dark could hide his blush. Joe chuckled, and nudged his shoulder.

“Hey,” Joe said. “It’s getting late. Should we go now?”

David braced himself to look back at Joe and nodded as he smiled. “Yeah. Come on.”

David pulled his hand out from his pocket as he turned around and started walking. A few steps later, David felt Joe’s hand sneaking in to hold his.

Joe said nothing and from the corner of his eyes, David could see that Joe kept his eyes straight forward as he walked.

David looked down. Biting his lip, he laced his fingers with Joe’s, holding his hand back.

Fingers intertwined together, they walked back to the car under the pale silvery moon light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jealous!David is fun to write.


	9. The Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natalia's wedding day! Or, the day where Joe had someone gave him a shovel talk, but at least he had a chance to dance with David.  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> Oh, and they kissed too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I actually wanted to post this earlier in the afternoon, but something came up. So I apologize for the delay.  
> 2\. The songs that David and Joe were dancing along to are: Besame Mucho and La Vie en Rose. I really recommend you to listen to those two songs while reading this to have the full angst/fluffy experience of the chapter. I listened to the ones from Cesaria Evora and Andrea Bocelli for the first song, and the one from Andrea Bocelli for the second song. But honestly any version will do.  
> 3\. It's a long chapter. I've warned you.

David did not cry.

Okay, maybe he did cry a little.

But who could blame him when he saw his sister, who used to be a little girl following David around with her piggy tails waving along, was now looking so beautiful, and most of all, so blissfully happy?

So yeah. Maybe David did cry a little.

To his defense, he was crying tears of happiness anyway.

And it wasn’t like anyone was paying attention anyway to him, quietly having tears formed at the corner of his eyes as he watched his sister reading her vow.

Anyone, except Joe who was sitting next to him at the second row of the benches.

Joe nudged David’s shoulder with his. David quickly rubbed the corner of his eyes before the tears rolled down, pretending like he was brushing away his hair from his forehead as he did so.

Joe leaned to whisper quietly at David. “She’s beautiful.”

David nodded. “Yeah. True,” he whispered back and flashed a smile at Joe. David had his eyes back to the altar, watching the smile of pure joy and happiness lightened up Clara’s face. Javi was staring at him like she was the sun of his galaxy.

David felt another warm tear started forming at the corner of his eyes. But before he could do something about it, Joe already wiped it away gently with his thumb.

David turned his head to look at Joe. Joe had a soft smile on his lips and a gentle look in his eyes. Feeling his cheeks blushing, David turned his head away from Joe, fixing his eyes at the bride and the groom standing at the altar

As he tried to tell the butterflies that were fluttering their wings inside his chest to calm down, he felt Joe carefully placed his hand over David’s that he put over his thigh. Without thinking, David flipped his hand so he could hold Joe’s hand.

 

*******

David smiled a lot, and laughed a lot.

But then again, it was a happy and beautiful day, wasn’t it?

After the ceremony, the wedding continued with a reception in the ballroom hall of the community center.

David stood by the wall, holding a glass of champagne as he watched Joe dancing with Chloe. Joe had to bow down a little just so he could hold hands with the little girl. But the matching grin on Joe’s and Chloe’s face showed how they were enjoying the dance. It was one of the most adorable things that David has ever seen.

“Hello, cousin.”

David swiftly turned to where the greeting came from. A smile instantly spread on his face as saw Fernando standing next to him.

“Fernando!”

Fernando laughed lightly and hugged David.

“Long time not see , David,” he said as he pulled back.

“Thanks for coming, all the way from Madrid.”

Fernando nodded and brushed away some of his hair from covering his eyes. “It’s always nice to come here and see how my cousins are doing.”

“Where’s Olalla?”

Fernando gestured to one of the tables. “Oh, she’s over there.”

David turned his head to look at the table, and waved back at Fernando’s wife.

“When did you arrive from Valencia?”

“Wednesday evening,” David answered. “But sadly, I have to go back there tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Fernando said. “Too bad that you can’t stay for longer.”

David shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I do wish I could stay for a week or so. But what else can I do?”

Fernando nodded. “By the way,” he said, looking at David with a small teasing smile. “A little bird told me that you brought someone special along with you from Valencia.”

Instead of groaning and blaming Clara like what he had been doing before, this time David found himself blushing, and he could barely keep himself from smiling shyly.

“Uhm. Yeah. Joe,” he said rather quietly, absently swirling the glass that he was holding as he watched the sparkling liquid inside it.

“Ah… The man that’s dancing with your niece right now?”

David instantly looked up and turned his head to the dance floor. Joe was now lifting Chloe up in his arm, balancing her on one of his hips. His free hand holding Chloe’s hand as he moved along with the music. Chloe was laughing as Joe swirled around with her in his arm. Without even realizing it, David was already smiling fondly at the sight. He momentarily thought that Joe would surely be a good father.

Chloe turned her head and found David was looking at them. She waved excitedly at David.

“Tío David!” she called David, beaming a wide smile.

Joe turned his head to where David was standing, and their eyes met. Joe smiled at him, and even through the distance between them, the smile was enough to make a thousand butterflies dancing happily inside David’s chest.

“It’s so nice to see you finally found someone who could make you smile like that, David.”

Fernando’s words pulled him back to reality.

“Huh?” David tore his eyes away from Joe who has put Chloe back on the floor, but kept on holding her hands as they continued dancing. He looked at Fernando. Fernando had a knowing smile as he nodded.

“You look so happy with him. And it’s just so nice to see how much the two of you are so in love with each other.”

“Yeah, we are,” David said without thinking as he looked back to where Joe was dancing with Chloe. A second later, he blinked, then hastily turned his head to Fernando.

“Are we?” he asked dumbfoundedly.

“Well,” Fernando said, looking at him with a hint of amusement. “Aren’t you?”

It took David a solid two seconds and a few rapid blinking before he could collect himself together. He cleared his throat and smiled awkwardly. Judging from the heat he was feeling all over his face, he was sure that he looked like a ripe strawberry or something.

“Uh. Yes. We are,” David said and quickly looked down.

Fernando laughed and patted David’s shoulder. “Yeah, anyone can see that from the way the two of you look at each other.”

“Really?” David asked as he looked up again, rubbing the back of his neck.

Fernando chuckled. “Anyway,” he said, still had his hand clasping David’s shoulder. “Things are going pretty well between the two of you, I suppose?”

Something swell with warmth inside David’s chest as Joe’s soft smile and the twinkle in his eyes flashed in David’s mind. Still, there was guilt hanging on heavily too at the back of his mind. David forcefully pushed that guilt away. At least for a while. Today was a beautiful day and the bitter truth could wait until tomorrow.

He nodded. “Yeah. It’s been amazing.”

“So I don’t need to…you know… give him a shovel talk?”

David’s eyes widened for a split second before he laughed.

The idea of Fernando trying to threaten Joe was something he found truly amusing. Fernando was anything and everything but intimidating. Honestly, even a teddy bear was scarier than him.

He shook his head. “Naaahhh… There’s no need to. Thank you for the good intention, though.”

“Well, if you say so.” Fernando pulled his hand away from David’s shoulder and slid it into his pocket. “But seriously, David. If he ever does something, anything at all that hurt you…”

David chewed his lower lip as he looked away from Fernando. The band has stopped playing and people were clapping their hands. He saw Joe lifted Chloe up and swirled the girl around in his arms.

He was pretty sure that Joe would never want to hurt him. In fact, a small voice inside his head was whispering at him, that maybe it was _him_ hurting Joe.

“I don’t think he could ever hurt anyone,” David said quietly as he looked back at his cousin, smiling slightly.

Fernando nodded again with a knowing smile.

“Tío Daviiid!” Chloe called as she made her way to David, pulling Joe along with her.

“You had fun, Chloe?” David asked the girl and ruffled her hair.

“Yes! Uncle Joe danced with me!”

David laughed. “Yeah. I saw that.”

“You should dance with him, Tío! He’s a good dancer!”

Joe chuckled as David could feel his cheeks were heating up again.

“Yeah, I’d love to see that,” Fernando said from where he was standing next to David.

David cleared his throat. “By the way, Joe, this is Fernando. My cousin.”

Joe smiled at Fernando as they shook hands. “Hello, Fernando. Pleased to meet you.”

“Hello, Joe. Nice to meet you too. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Joe laughed lightly. “Really? Good things, I hope.”

“So far, yeah. I only heard good things. But still, I need to ask you something.”

Joe arched an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Do you know what we can do with a shovel?”

David who was sipping his champagne instantly choked on it. He tried to glare at Fernando, which maybe wasn’t really working as he was still coughing rather violently.

Joe himself looked positively confused at the question.

“Uh, to dig out something?” he tried to answer even though he sounded and looked unsure.

Fernando nodded solemnly. “Yeah. We use a shovel to dig out a hole. A hole where we can bury…things. To hide them.”

David who finally stopped coughing could only stare at Fernando with so much horror.

“Oh,” Joe said. “Okay,” he added as he nodded carefully, even though he still looked completely clueless about what Fernando was talking about.

“And I have a shovel at home. A very good shovel that I can use to dig out a big hole.”

“Uhm. Nice.” Joe scratched the back of his ear.

“So, if you-“

“Fernando!” David’s voice was in an embarrassingly a high pitch, it was almost like he was shrieking.

Luckily, Fernando got distracted by Chloe who was tugging the hem of his suit.

“Tío Fernando? Is Leo here too? I want to play with him.”

“Yes! Go and play with Leo, Chloe!” David agreed as he half-pushed Chloe closer to Fernando. Fernando laughed but took Chloe’s hand.

“Yeah, Leo is sitting over there with Tía Olalla. Let’s go there.” Fernando nodded at Joe. “See you around, Joe.”

“Oh… Yeah… Yeah… I’ll see you.” Joe replied even though still looked a bit confused.

David watched as Fernando and Chloe walked away, exhaling a sigh of relief.

“Why did he suddenly talk about a shovel?”

David turned to Joe who was still eyeing Fernando. David ran a hand over his head.

“Uhm…He… He likes… gardening,” David said, trying to make up a reason. He placed the crystal glass that he was holding to a small round table near him.

“Oooh…. Okay.” Joe didn’t look quite convinced but he nodded at David’s explanation.

David looked away to the stage, where another singer of the band is getting ready for another song. “Anyway,” David turned on his heels so now he was fully facing Joe. He brushed his hair away from his eyes as he smiled at Joe. “Want to dance?”

Funnily, and quite adorably, Joe’s cheeks suddenly were tinted pink. He laughed awkwardly as he ran his fingers through his hair.

“Uhm. I… I can’t…dance…” he said.

David’s eyebrows shot up before he burst out into an amused laugh. “That’s not what Chloe told me,” he said.

At the stage, the singer on the stage was saying something about the song that the band was about to play.

“Chloe is a little girl! It’s different! I don’t have to impress her!” Joe said.

David chuckled. “Oh, Joe. You don’t have to do anything to impress me, really.”

Joe looked like he wanted to say something else, but David already took his hand.

“Come on,” David said as he pulled Joe along with him to the dance floor. Joe protested weakly but followed him anyway. Once they were on the dance floor along with some other couples, David let go of Joe’s hand and made a 180-degree turn on his heels.

David smiled at Joe as he took Joe’s left hand and put it on his waist.

“Don’t worry,” David said, tilting his head up so he could lock his eyes with Joe’s. “Just…follow me and move along with the music, okay?”

David gently put his hand on Joe’s shoulder, and held Joe’s right hand with his left.

“Ready?”

Joe only gave him a single nod. The band started playing. The left corner of David’s lips tugged up a bit higher when he recognized the intro of the song.

David started to sway along with the music, leading the steps as one of his hand was holding Joe’s hand gently and another one was resting on the side of Joe’s shoulder. But it only took him a few seconds later to realize that he didn’t really need to do much to lead the dance. Joe easily moved along with him in such a perfect synchrony, like they have been doing this for so many times. Pleasantly surprised, David looked up and found Joe was staring at him. Lips curling up softly into a gentle smile, the way Joe was staring at him like David was the only thing he care to look at made David’s heart fluttered.

“Chloe was right,” David said.

“About what?”

“You are a good dancer. I’m impressed.”

“Good to hear that. Mission accomplished.”

David laughed and leaned to pressed his forehead against Joe’s chest. Joe smelled like a mix of lemon and mint and ocean breeze and David got a bit lightheaded to feel how close they were, to feel how natural it was for him and Joe to move together. He felt Joe’s chin at the top of his head, and it made him felt like something sweet and warm was bubbling inside of him.

David pulled back just a bit and tilted his head up to look at Joe. Joe was still staring at him with that adoring look. Joe still had that soft smile on his lips.

David still heard the music but everything else slowly faded away into colorful background. Everything around them slowly dissipated as they danced together and David silently hoped that the music would never stop, that the dance would never end, and he would never have to let go of Joe from him.

 

*******

When he was much younger, Joe watched the movie The Great Expectations. He didn’t really understand the movie but he knew that this song was in that movie.

But now, Joe would not think of the song as the song from that movie. He would remember it as a song where he had David in his arms, a song where he danced with David, a song about a dance he would always remember with a bittersweet smile.

David’s hand was warm as he held Joe’s hand. He moved gracefully along with the song, gently leading the steps for Joe. Joe was not even thinking of how he moved his feet, of how he sway along with the music. It just happened so naturally Joe could barely believe that this was the first time for them to dance together.

“Chloe was right,” David said.

“About what?”

“You are a good dancer. I’m impressed.”

Joe’s heart did a backflip.

“Good to hear that. Mission accomplished,” Joe said.

Yes, Joe was a fully grown-up man and he knew how to act like an adult. Like a real gentleman. But when it came to David, Joe was nothing but a 16-year old teenager who would shamelessly do anything to impress his crush.

David laughed and it was just so unfair that even that small laugh sounded like music. David pressed his forehead against Joe’s chest and Joe felt like he was walking, dancing on the clouds. He leaned just a bit, so David’s head was tucked right under his chin. The smell of fresh grass and apple from David’s hair was so intoxicating as Joe’s closed his eyes for a while, inhaling the scent as much as he could. After a while, David pulled back, and looked up at him.

David’s eyes were warm melted caramel and the stars were trapped behind those eyes, twinkling through those eyes. David was staring at Joe with a soft look like Joe was doing something he found pleasing.

Joe really wish that he was.

Joe licked his lower lip and for a split second he almost believed that David’s eyes darted there before his gaze fell down.

David hummed along with the song, and that’s when Joe’s ears caught some lyrics from the song.

Joe chuckled, almost bitterly, once he realized how the lyric ironically sort of fit their situation.

“It’s…kind of an appropriate, huh? The song?”

David angled his head up, looking at Joe under his thick eyelashes.

“What do you mean?”

“The song,” Joe said. “Tonight is the last night, isn’t it?”

Joe thought he was numb already from the bitter truth. But somehow, something that looked like pain flashed in David’s eyes. And it hurt to see that pain.

David looked away from him. A steel fist clenched Joe’s heart icily. He held David’s hand tighter.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

He didn’t know why he apologized. He didn’t know what the sorry was for.

David looked back at him and locked his eyes at Joe. David’s eyes looked fragile and it stirred so many emotions inside of Joe, emotions that he could not recognize.

“Let’s not talk about it, please?” David said, voice only a little above a whisper. “Tomorrow can wait.”

Joe bit his lower lip. His heart was in his throat as he squeezed David’s hand. His hand moved from David’s waist to his back, so he could pull David even closer. David rested his head against Joe’s chest and Joe kissed the top of his head.

Joe pulled back a little just so he could lock his eyes at David.

“Yes,” he said. “Tomorrow can wait.”

They kept on dancing. Joe kept his eyes at David’s and let himself lost again in the galaxy behind those eyes.

Tomorrow could wait. The whole world could wait.

*******

Apparently, the world could only wait until the song came to an end. As the last notes of the song faded away, replaced by the sound of people clapping their hands, David slowly pulled his hand away from Joe’s. Once David’s hand slid off from Joe, Joe quickly caught it back, holding it firmly.

“Just…one more dance, please?”

David looked up at Joe. Something that was terrifyingly so similar to longing was in his eyes, and it made Joe’s heart twitch. David’s eyes fell to where Joe’s hand circling his wrist. A second later, he looked up again. A soft smile gracing his lips as his cheeks were in a pretty shade of rose petals.

He chewed his lower lip as his eyes darted to something behind Joe’s shoulder, but when he nodded, he kept his eyes at Joe.

“Okay,” he said.

Joe’s chest suddenly felt too small for his heart. Before he even realized what he’s doing, he already brought David’s hand to his lips and kissed the back of it.

The rosy color on David’s cheeks turned into the color of cherry as he looked away, but Joe still caught how he bit his lower lip, like he was trying to hold back a smile.

Joe turned his head to the stage, because he felt like if he kept on looking at David he would just exploded into a million pieces of stupid confetti. He still needed to be in one piece of himself if he wanted to have another dance with David. And oh, God knew how much he wanted it.

On the stage, the singer was saying something about the next song, telling the audience that the song was a special request from Antonia, because the old-lady wanted all of her grandkids to have rose-colored life with their loved ones.

David groaned as he ran his free hand through his hair while Joe laughed.

“Your grandmother is awesome,” Joe said as he turned his head back at David.

David let out a huff. “Yeah. She is the best one in terms of embarrassing her grandkids,” David said, but he had a small fond smile on his lips.

“So,” he said, turning to face Joe fully. “One more dance?”

Joe smiled as he carefully placed both of his hands on David’s waist. “One more dance,” he said, pushing away the thought that this might be not just one more dance, but one last dance.

As the band started playing the first notes of the song, David wraps his arms around Joe’s neck. They started moving around, swaying along with the music.

Joe locked his eyes at David’s, letting himself drink in the sight of the beautiful face in front of him.

David hummed along with the song as they danced together, like they were already settling on a choreography without even thinking about it.

“I love this song,” Joe said.

David chuckled lightly. “You’re such a sap.”

“No. I am a romantic person.” Joe denied.

“More like a hopeless romantic,” David said, half-grinning.

“A properly romantic gentleman. You know, it’s one of the requirements to be a good boyfriend.”

David’s grin turned into a soft smile. “You’ve been a good boyfriend, Joe.”

 _A fake boyfriend_ , an annoying imaginary devil whispered inside Joe’s mind but Joe kicked that  devilish thought away.

 _Not now_ , Satan, Joe thought. _Not now_.

Joe laughed lightly. “Have I?” he said.

“A perfect one,” David said. The smile and the look in his eyes were so sincere, Joe stop himself from thinking and let himself fall even deeper into this magical word that he felt like he was in now.

Someone clapped their hands and made a terrible whistling sound. As some people laughed, Joe turned his head, trying to figure out who did that. He found Clara looking at them, grinning widely. Sitting next to him, Nando was also looking at them with an amused smile. Joe turned his head back to look at David.

“Your families are staring at us."

The blush returned to David’s cheeks. He looked away from Joe but Joe could still see the sheepish smile on David’s lips. A second later, David turned his head back at Joe, angled his neck a bit to level his eyes with Joe’s.

“I guess they’re just waiting until it finally happened.”

Joe arched an eyebrow. “What?”

David licked his lower lip before he answered. “Us. Kissing.”

Joe’s heart stopped beating.

He wondered how on earth he could still keep on dancing, when his knees were suddenly turned into overcooked spaghetti.

“Well,” Joe said. “We can’t let them down, can we?”

Joe’s heart has gone missing, replaced by a thousand butterflies that were fluttering their wings inside his chest.

David looked down for a second but when he raised his gaze up again, his eyes were shining and his lips were the most beautiful crescent moon.

“I don’t think we can,” David said, voice just a little above a whisper.

“So…” Joe said, his voice even lower. “Can we? Kiss?”

His voice was so low Joe didn’t think that David could hear him. Apparently he could. Because David gave him a microscopic nod. His mouth moved like he was saying something that Joe could not hear. But since Joe had his eyes locked at David’s lips, he could see how the lips moving slowly, mouthing the word _yes_ without voicing it.

He looked up at Joe and his eyes were wide and warm. But the look in those caramel eyes were a mix of longing and sincerity and something vulnerable. Joe absently thought whether it was the same kind of look that David found in his eyes. Joe cupped David’s cheek with one hand, gently ran the pad of his thumb over David’s jaw. They were still swaying along with the music but their feet moved slower and slower, like the way the final notes of a symphony faded away before it ended. He slowly leaned forward and everything was starting to blur into slow motion. Joe could see each and every single one of David’s lashes. A little part of his mind realized that at some point they had stopped moving but at the moment Joe also felt like they were inside an invisible bubble, mist and cloud around them. Joe stopped moving right when the tip of his nose touched David’s. David’s breathing was warmly ghosting, almost like teasing, against his skin.

David’s eyes fluttered closed and his hands slid up Joe’s neck, threading his fingers between Joe’s curls. Joe closed his eyes but behind his eyelids he saw the cherry red of David’s cheeks, the rosy red of David’s lips.

Their lips brushed, so softly at first, almost hesitantly. But then David let out a small content sigh and Joe felt David slightly tugged Joe’s hair that was threaded between his fingers.

Joe pressed his lips firmer as his hand that was still on David’s hips sneaking in around David’s waist, pulling David even closer.

There were sweet traces of champagne on David’s lips and his lips were soft and warm. The sweet taste of David’s lips only left Joe wanting more so he kissed David’s deeper, savoring the warmth and intoxicating taste.

The song ended but Joe did not hear that because he only heard this soft little gasp that fell from David’s mouth as Joe carefully ran the tip of his tongue along David’s lower lip.

People were clapping hands but Joe did not realize that because he could only feel the way David’s fingers threaded through his hair, pulling it, as his other hand now sliding down down down from Joe’s neck down along his spine and stopped at the small of Joe’s back.

People were laughing and smiling and talking around them but Joe didn’t notice that because Joe only noticed the way David’s breath hitched up as Joe chased David’s tongue with his. Joe only noticed the way David’s hand pressed against the small of Joe’s back.

Joe was pouring all of himself, all of the questions left unasked and all the feelings hidden beneath the smiles and stolen glances into the kiss.

People started leaving the dance floor as the band left the stage to have a short break. But Joe did not notice that.

He only noticed the way David was kissing him back, like he was letting his kiss answering all those questions and returning all those feelings.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. To be honest, the scene of David and Joe dancing to Besame Mucho was the first idea that I had for this fic.  
> 2\. Thank you for reading :)  
> 3\. ONE MORE CHAPTER YEAY CAN YOU BELIEVE IT


	10. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where David told Joe which things that he have said before were not lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LAST CHAPTER Guys I actually managed to start a fic and finish it can you believe it.

                                                              

“What would you tell your family after this?” Joe asked him.

David stared at Joe in the dim light of the room, fingers playing with Joe’s curls. The greenish eyes in front of him were dim and it hurt David that he could not find the twinkling light that was usually there.

David stayed silent as he pondered on Joe’s question.

“I don’t know,” David finally said. He chewed his lower lip. “Maybe I won’t say anything.”

Joe moved his head vaguely, like he was trying to nod.

“What if…” Joe paused there.

Beat.

Silence.

“What…” Joe tried again but then he let out a shaky breath. He stretched his lips into a half-smile but somehow the smile looked so hollow.

“Never mind,” he said.

David said nothing. He let his fingers rest on Joe’s head, fingertips between the golden curls.

Two beats of silence.

“What should I tell them?” David whispered.

Like what David did when Joe asked him the same question, Joe stayed silent for a while. When he finally answered it, the half-smile returned to his lips. But it’s still an empty one and it made David’s chest feel hollow.

“Maybe you don’t have to say anything.”

“What if they ask about you?”

“Why would they?”

David absently running his fingers through Joe’s hair again.

“They would. Abuela loves you. Chloe adores you.”

The corners of Joe’s lips tugged up higher into a soft smile. This time, there was a small sparkle in those eyes.

“I’m gonna miss them,” Joe said.

“They will miss you too.”

_(I will miss you)_

 

“They probably going to ask you to come again.” David said, half-smiling as he remembered the way Chloe clung to Joe. The way his grandmother rubbed Joe’s shoulder as she half-forced Joe to take another portion of breakfast.

Joe chuckled lightly.

“What should I tell them then?” David asked again.

Joe’s eyes fell to the sheet.

“Tell them that… It didn’t work out?” Joe said, still looking at the sheets.

“They’re only going to ask why. Because you’re perfect.”

“Tell them you met someone else.”

Something constricted inside David’s chest.

“Probably it'll be easier for them to believe it if I tell them it’s the other way around.”

Joe’s raised his gaze up again. “What do you mean?”

“You’re the one who will find someone else.”

“David…”

“Someone better than me. Someone better for you.”

Joe pressed a finger against David’s lips and shook his head. “Don’t say that,” he said. He looked at David with something in his eyes. Something that David was too terrified to understand. Joe pulled his hand back and placed it on the mattress, only half an inch away from David’s chest.

“Do you remember when Clara asked how long we have been together?”

A small smile spread across David’s face as he nodded. “Yeah.”

“I, romantically, told them it’s been such a magical six months.”

David traced an imaginary line along Joe’s jaw. “I’ve told you you’re such a sap.”

Joe bit his lower lip but his eyes flashed a smile. He sighed.

“Well,” he said. “Maybe you can tell them… That the magic just…gone…”

David closed his eyes for a while. It’s like someone just filled his lungs with steel. He slowly opened his eyes and took his hand away from Joe’s face.

“Even for a break up, you just have to make a romantic reason for it, huh?”

Joe’s eyes were locked at his and David hate to see how fragile and sad those eyes were.

“I'm not good in breaking up,” Joe said.

The steel inside David’s chest froze into blocks of ice. He reached for Joe’s hand, lacing their fingers together.

“I’m not good either,” David said.

David kept on holding Joe’s hand until he fell asleep. Like he was desperately holding on to the last pieces of the remaining magic that were slowly vanished into the void.

 

*******

“My birthday is on September,” Chloe said when Joe pulled back after hugging her. “Can you come, Uncle Joe?”

Next to Joe, David raised his eyebrows. “Chloe, you didn’t even ask me to come.”

Chloe looked up at David, and tugged the hem of David’s shirt. “Tío David, can you come to my birthday party and bring Uncle Joe with you, please?”

Joe laughed as David shook his head in disbelief.

“You’re here for less than a week and you already replaced me as her favorite uncle,” David mumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest. Joe smiled and ruffled David’s hair.

Chloe tugged David’s shirt once again. “You’re still my favorite, Tío. But I want Uncle Joe too.”

David sighed. He gave a small smile as he petted Chloe’s head. “Chloe, Joe might be too busy to come here.”

Joe crouched down to level himself with Chloe. “Chloe, I might not be able to come, but I won’t forget your birthday.”

Chloe bit her lower lip and held her little doll tighter. Her brown eyes held a hopeful look. “Promise?” she asked.

Joe nodded. “Promise.”

“Can you call me?”

“I will.” Joe kissed Chloe’s cheek. “I promise.”

Chloe wrapped her arms around Joe’s neck. “I’m gonna miss you, Uncle Joe.”

“I’m gonna miss you too, little flower girl,” Joe said, and kissed her other cheek.

Joe stood up and ruffled her hair again before he turned to where Antonia was standing. He smiled as he walked to her, and hugged her.

Antonia hugged him back and rubbed the back of his shoulder.

“Thank you so much, Antonia,” Joe said as he pulled back. “Thank you so much for everything.”

“Oh, it was my pleasure, Joe,” Antonia said, smiling fondly at Joe as she held Joe’s shoulder, gently squeezing it. “Come again, okay?”

Joe laughed a little awkwardly. “Oh, I do-“

“Come again on Christmas! It would be lovely to have you here on Christmas!”

“Abuela.” David was now already standing next to Joe. “Joe might want to go back to England and spend Christmas with his family.”

“Oh, right,” Antonia said, looking a bit disappointed. “But if you’re in Spain after Christmas, you can come for New Year, yes?”

Joe stretched his lips into a small smile. “Well,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. From the corner of his eyes, he could see David looking away to the window. “We’ll see about that, okay?”

They left the house with fingers lacing together. Both of them determinedly refused to meet each other’s eyes.

 

*******

Joe walked out from the arrival terminal at the Manises Airport. He stopped and cleared his throat.

“Well,” he said. “James said he’ll pick me up.”

Next to him, David nodded, but had his eyes at the tip of his shoes.

“What about you?”

David lifted up his head and brushed some hair away from covering his eyes.

“I’ll take a cab from here,” he said with a vague smile on his face.

“Okay,” Joe said.

“Okay,” David said and looked down again at his shoes.

Joe shifted his weight to the ball of his feet. “So… Uhm…”

He stopped. He’s bad in saying goodbye.

He didn’t want to say goodbye.

“Well,” he tried again but his throat was dry like sand paper. “Uh. I’ll… I’ll see you around?”

There. That’s not goodbye.

But it still felt like goodbye.

David raised his gaze up. He was smiling slightly but the smile was not lighting up his face. Joe was dying to trace that smile with his fingertip, turning it into that crescent moon smile that brought the stars out from David’s eyes.

“Yeah, I guess, I’ll see you around.”

Joe started panicking. What should he do now? Should he shake David’s hand? Hug him?

But before he figured out what was it that he supposed to do, David called his name.

“And Joe?”

“Yeah?”

David chewed his lower lip as he locked his eyes at Joe. Then the tips of his lips tugged up higher. There was something fragile in David’s eyes, but the smile was a sincere one and it still made Joe breathless.

“Thank you so much, Joe,” David said quietly. “Thank you so much for everything.”

Joe’s heart skipped a beat and suddenly everything went still. David tiptoed and carefully pressed his lips against Joe’s cheek.

David’s lips stayed there for a while but before Joe could say, could do anything, David already pulled away.

Without saying anything else, David pulled back. He turned around and walked away, pulling his small suitcase with him.

With his feet freezing, Joe watched David’s back going further and further away, disappearing into the crowd. Joe lifted his hand. His fingertip touched the small patch of skin where David’s lips were just there a moment ago.

There was a hollow void in his chest, and Joe felt like he has lost something without even had it. Like something ended bitterly without even started.

Joe hated goodbye. And no, he didn’t say it. David didn’t say it either.

But it still felt like goodbye.

*******

Days were long and nights were lonely.

Ever since they parted ways in the airport that day, Joe has not met David again yet. David didn’t text him nor call him either, and Joe was too scared to do it.

Almost a week, and Joe found himself felt lonelier than ever. Which was weird. He’s not the kind of person who got lonely easily. It wasn’t a problem for him to go out, find a bar or a café and just started a conversation with stranger. And it wasn’t a problem for him either to just stay in his flat, lazily lying on his couch and binge-watching something from Netflix.

But for the last five days, something just felt off. Nothing was wrong but nothing felt completely right either. Joe felt like he was moving, talking and laughing like on autopilot.

Joe tried his best, really trying, not to think about the void in his chest. About the small piece that gone from him.

But the thought was still there, ghosting like a fragment of a dream that lingered in his mind.

So here he was, on a Friday evening with a bottle of beer in his hand. The bottle felt cold against his skin. Joe took a swig, half-hoping that the alcohol would do some wonder to numb his feeling.

Still, the thought of a soft smile over the face where freckles were splattered like droplets of ink came back and forth in his mind like a pendulum swing.

Joe was staring at the TV screen without really watching it. He was wondering whether he should change into watching something with a more complicated plot instead of this comedy that he had on TV now. Maybe thinking about the plot could stop him from thinking about things that he shouldn’t be thinking.

He was about to pick up the remote control when his phone went off with an incoming message. Joe reached out for his phone, and looked at the screen.

David sent him a message.

Joe’s blood ran cols as his heart was thumping in his chest. Joe slid his finger on the screen and read the short message

**From: David**

**_Have you had dinner yet?_ **

Joe’s heart was acting even crazier now but before he even thought of replying it, another messages coming in.

 **From David:**  
_**I cooked something**_  
_**Seafood paella**_  
_**My grandmother said you like it so she called me and gave me the recipe**_

The thumping in his ribcage now changed into some strange fluttering. Joe didn’t realize that a smile was creeping in on his lips. He typed a reply.

**To David:  
_You cooked?_**

**From David:  
_Yeah_**

**To David:  
_For me?_**

**From David:**  
_**Yeah**_  
_**I mean**_  
_**My grandmother said that you like it**_  
_**So I cooked it and maybe you can have it for dinner**_  
_**I mean if you want to**_

Joe chuckled and shook his head lightly.

 **To David:**  
**_I haven’t had dinner yet  
I have pizza but your grandmother’s paella sounds more tempting_**

**From David:  
_Comparing my grandmother’s paella to frozen pizza is an insult_**

**To David:**  
**_Okay  
So seafood paella for dinner then_**

 **From David:**  
**_Good  
I am in your parking lot by the way_**

Joe’s eyebrows knitted into one

**To: David  
_What do you mean?_**

**From: David**  
**_I mean I am in my car_**  
_**And my car is in the parking lot**_  
_**Of your apartment**_

**To: David  
_You’re in my apartment?_**

Joe quickly sat up, looking at his phone like it was holding the secret of the universe

**From: David  
_In the parking lot_**

**To: David  
_Why?_**

**From: David**  
**_I am bringing the food for you_**  
_**So do you want your dinner or no**_  
_**?**_

 **To: David**  
_**Yes, I do**_  
_**Come upstairs**_  
_**I am in Apt. 21, second floor**_

 **From: David**  
_**I know**_  
_**James told me**_  
_**I am going up now**_

Joe stood up so quickly he got a bit dizzy, and hastily made his way to the bathroom. He splashed some waters to his face, hoping that somehow the cold water could make him look a bit fresher. As Joe frantically tried to brush his hair, the doorbell rang, making Joe almost jumped out of his skin.

His hand was cold as he had it on the door knob, and swing the door open.

David was standing there, wearing a black button-up shirt. The sleeves of the shirt were rolled up to his elbow. He was looking down at his shoes but lifted his head up once the door was opened.

“Hey,” Joe said, still holding the door knob

David brushed some hair away from his forehead and smiled tentatively. “Uhm. Hi.”

David licked his lower lip and lifted up his hand that was holding a paper bag.

“I bring food?”

“Good,” Joe said, grinning as something warm seeping inside his vein. “I am starving. Come on in,” he said, swinging the door wider and let David stepped in. Joe closed the door.

“The kitchen is over there,” Joe said and lead David there. David put the paper bag on the kitchen island, and took out a glass container from there.

“Here,” he said as he placed it on the kitchen island. “I think it’s…enough for two.”

“Perfect!” Joe beamed a smile at him. “Let me set the table for the two of us, then.”

Joe started opening the cabinet to take the plates. David leaned his back on the fridge, watching him.

“So, your grandmother called you?” Joe asked and glanced at David.

“Yeah.”

“And told you to cook this for me?”

Joe spared another glance at David who seemed to grow a massive interest at the tiles of Joe’s floor. Joe placed the two plates on the counter and moved to take some glasses from the next cabinet.

“Thank you for cooking, by the way.”

“I can’t lie to her.”

Joe’s head snapped to where David was standing. Joe placed the glass that he just took out to the counter, and turned to face David.

David sighed.

“I can’t lie to her anymore.”

Joe bit his lip and looked away. “Hey,” he said and looked back to David. “If it makes you feel better, I also lied. We shared the guilt, okay?” Joe tried to laugh but it sounded too bitter.

“It’s… It’s what they call… white lies, right? We.. You didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

Joe looked away again.

 _I was hurt but it’s not your fault. I do this to myself_.

“I don’t want to lie anymore,” David said quietly.

Joe took a shaky breath but still couldn’t force himself to look at David.

“Then don’t.”

“I can’t tell them I meet someone else. Because that would be a lie.”

Joe’s eyes fell to the floor. “You will, David.”

“I don’t want to.”

Joe hated it when he couldn’t understand things. And he couldn’t understand what David said. He was too scared to try to understand it.

Joe said nothing, fixing his eyes at the floor.

“Do you want to?” David asked.

Joe lifted his head up and found David was staring at him. Those brown eyes were fragile and David looked so vulnerable.

“Want what?”

“Finding someone else?”

David was the epitome of perfection with those beautiful eyes that twinkle every time he smiled. How on earth Joe would ever want to find someone else?

Joe laughed again, still bitterly.

He took a step closer to David.

“Why,” he said and took another step. “Do you even think,” he continued, taking another two steps. “That I ever want to,” he said, taking another step closer. “Find someone else,” he said, now the distance between them was only a small step away.

Joe placed a hand on the fridge next to David’s head. “I don’t want to find someone else, David. And it’s not a lie.”  
“So tell me, David,” he said, placing another hand on the fridge, caging David’s head. “Tell me, which ones of the things that you have said, were not lies.”

David’s chest was moving up and down rapidly and Joe swore the temperature strangely went up a few degrees around them.

“I did tell Clara you were handsome. I didn’t lie about it,” David whispered but refused to meet Joe’s eyes.

A spark lit up inside Joe. He cupped David’s cheek with one hand.

“Tell me more,” he whispered. He leaned so his mouth was half an inch away from David’s ear. “Tell me what other things that weren’t a lie.”

“I didn’t lie when I said in that dinner that you are gorgeous.”

Call it a praise kink or anything. But hearing David saying those kind of things, telling Joe that he didn’t lie, it felt heavenly good and something stirred with want inside Joe.

“The six months part might be a lie,” Joe whispered. “But the part of being with you is magical, it wasn’t a lie,” Joe said and pressed a kiss against David’s neck, right below his ear.

A sigh that was on the borderline of a moan escaped David’s lips.

“I told Fernando you were amazing. I didn’t lie,” David said with a husky voice.

Joe ran the tip of his nose up from David’s collarbone back to his ear.

“I won’t lie. I was jealous to see Kun was flirting with you.”

Joe chuckled. “You’re an idiot,” he said and gently bit the side of David’s ear. “Kun was nothing compared to you. No one, nothing compares to you.”

“Is it a lie?”

Joe pulled back just a bit, just so he could hold his eyes at David. He slowly brushed David’s jawline with his thumb.

“It’s not a lie. It’s an absolute truth,” Joe said.

“When… When you…kissed me…” David said with a shaky voice. “Was it a lie?”               

Joe gently nuzzled the tip of his nose against David’s.

“No,” he said. “And I’m not lying that I desperately want to kiss you again.”

David let out a small sound that was a mixture of a laugh and a chuckle.

“Me too,” David said. “I’m not lying either.”

Joe leaned his face even closer, closing the already small gap between their lips and gently pressed his lips against David’s.

For a short moment he stayed still. His lips were still there over David’s but not pressing for more. But then he felt David’s fingers were between his hair and David’s hand flew to the small of his back. David’s lips slightly parted as he kissed Joe back. Elated, Joe pressed his lips firmer to deepen the kiss. David let out a small content sigh. Joe licked David’s lower lip with his tongue then slid it into David’s mouth, chasing David’s tongue.

David’s breath hitched up as he tugged Joe’s curl. David’s hand flew to Joe’s chest where he placed his palm there, fingers half-clawing Joe’s shirt. Joe pressed his body against David’s, trapping the shorter guy between himself and the fridge, feeling the curves of David’s lean figure against his. He pulled his lips away from David’s and started tracing butterfly kisses along David’s neck. David angled his head, giving more access for Joe to cover his glorious skin with more kisses.

“Joe,” David sighed his name under his breath. The effect of David’s way of saying his name like that went straight to Joe’s groin. Joe carefully ran his teeth along David’s neck. David gasped and shifted, squirming his body which was still conveniently trapped between Joe and the fridge. David’s movement created friction on Joe’s crotch and everything feels so hot and all of Joe’s senses become double sensitive.

David’s hand on his chest slid down, his fingertips brushing Joe’s nipple as he moved his hand to Joe’s waist.

“Joe…” David sighed.

Everything was too much but everything was not enough and Joe almost could not breathe.

David’s hand moved up again to Joe’s chest, and gently pushed Joe, just enough to cut Joe off from kissing him.

Closing his eyes, Joe pressed his forehead against David’s. He was panting and got a bit lightheaded. David’s hand moved down from Joe’s hair to his back, where he soothingly ran his palm against it up and down.

For a while, none of them said nothing as they both tried to regain their normal breathing.

Joe opened his eyes and kissed the tip of David’s forehead before he pulled back just a little.

“David?”

David slowly opened his eyes and stared at Joe, still looking a bit dazzled. His lips were a darker shade of red and slightly swollen and the lips were curling up beautifully into a small sheepish smile.

“Let’s not lie anymore shall we?”

David’s eyes fell down but the smile was still there as he started run his fingertips up and down Joe’s chest.

“Fake boyfriend or no, I didn’t lie when I told you you’re a good boyfriend,” he whispered, then looked up at Joe.

“Then let’s change the fake part.”

David gave him the brightest smile and the stars behind those eyes were there again, shining through the caramel eyes. Joe took David’s hand from his chest and pressed a kiss on David’s knuckles.

“Be my real boyfriend, will you?” he asked David, tucking in a stray of hair to the back of David’s ear.

David bit his lips but it failed to stop a smile from spreading across his face.

He looked away for a second, but when he looked back at Joe his eyes were shining.

“So, I can call my grandmother and tell her that my boyfriend like what I cooked for him?”

Joe laughed and he couldn’t remember when was the last time he laughed so happily, so wholeheartedly like this.

“You certainly can,” he said as he wrapped an arm around David’s waist and pulled him into a hug. David buried his face against Joe’s chest and Joe kissed the top of David’s head. He let his face lingered there for a while, inhaling the smell of fresh grass and apple from David’s soft hair, the familiar and intoxicating smell of his boyfriend.

 _Real_ boyfriend.

“And speaking of your grandmother,” Joe said as he pulled away from David. “Let’s see how good you are in following your grandmother’s recipe, shall we?”

David laughed but he let Joe took his hand and pulled him to the kitchen island.

Fifteen minutes later, Joe had dinner with his boyfriend.

A few hours later, Joe fell asleep with his boyfriend in his arms.

And this time, no more lies.

It’s all the  truth.

It’s all real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Thank you so much for all of you who stick with this fic don't you just HAPPY that they finally kiss well I am happy those idiots were finally realize it.  
> 2\. Special shout out to Alex who has been a loyal reader and hey if it wasn't because of you I wouldn't have someone to give Joe the shovel talk even though David was right, Nando was less scary than a teddy bear. And Liz! I hope you like the short appearance of Alexis there!  
> 3\. Have I told you how thankful I am for you who read this fic?  
> 4\. To be honest I was so tempted to write about David and Joe heavily making out against the fridge.  
> 5\. Guys thank you so much for reading this!


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